Japan and Iran seal World Cup finals places

JAPAN booked their place at a third consecutive World Cup finals as goals from Atsushi Yanagisawa and Masashi Oguro gave the Asian champions a 2-0 win over North Korea in Group B of Asia’s World Cup qualifying tournament in Bangkok.

The 2002 World Cup co-hosts became the first nation to book their place in Germany, with a guaranteed top-two finish in Group B.

Iran also booked a place at their third World Cup as Branko Ivankovic’s side defeated Bahrain 1-0 in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium yesterday.