Japan Moves on to the 4th Round

With the team's 3-0 victory over Thailand, Japan advanced into the 4th round of the Asian Football Confederation's qualifying stage for the 2010 World Cup. Only 4 or 5 nations from Asia will qualify for the next World Cup that will be held in South Africa.

Joining Japan in the 4th round so far are the nations: Australia, Bahrain, both Koreas, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Two spots remain up-for-grabs with four teams fighting for the positions. Syria will qualify if the nation defeats UAE by 3 goals or more on June 22nd and Qatar must defeat Iraq to qualify also on June 22nd.

In the fourth round, the ten remaining teams are placed into two groups of five teams. The teams in each group play each other twice (home & away).

The top two teams in each group will qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

The third place finishers in each group will then play each other in a home-and-away series. The winner will be determined by aggregate score over the two legs. After, the nation will compete against the representative from Oceania in a home-and-away series to determine which nation advances to the World Cup.

Japan is looking to return to the World Cup.

Image details: Japan National Football Team Trainings Session served by picapp.com