Football: Japan faces Uzbekistan in the World Cup qualifiers | WSAU News / Talk 550 AM · 99.9 FM

(Dan Tri) – Japan will meet Uzbekistan in a friendly match before the country’s next two World Cup qualifying matches, the Japan Football Association said.

Japan will face the Central Asian team at Saitama Stadium on January 21 before hosting China on January 27 and Saudi Arabia five days later.

Coach Hajime Moriyasu’s team finished second in Group B of the Asian qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup as the country likely qualified for the seventh consecutive final round.

The top two teams in each of Asia’s two groups automatically qualify for Qatar 2022 while the third-placed nations face a series of playoffs to secure a potential fifth spot.

Uzbekistan has missed the final stages of the continental World Cup qualifiers and is preparing for the preliminary round in June for the Asian Cup finals, to be held in China in 2023.

(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Peter Rutherford)