Japan's Moriyasu tells team to focus in quest for World Cup trophy

(Reuters) - Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu told his players to maintain their focus on winning one game at a time, having set his team the lofty target of lifting the World Cup in North American in 2026.

The Japanese have never progressed beyond the last 16 at the World Cup, but Moriyasu's side took a step towards qualifying for the finals on Friday with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Indonesia after weathering an early storm on and off the pitch.

Victory took the Samurai Blue seven points clear of Australia, Saudi Arabia and China in the battle for the two automatic berths available from their qualification group at the halfway stage in the preliminaries.

"I have set a very high standard for the team, and that is to become world champions," Moriyasu said after an own goal from Justin Hubner and strikes by Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita and Yukinari Sugawara secured victory for Japan.

"But to do this we have to play each game one by one, step by step, and I'd like to focus on the next game."

Japan take on China in Xiamen on Tuesday, having dismantled Branko Ivankovic's side 7-0 in the qualifiers at Saitama Stadium. Moriyasu's team handed out another significant defeat to the Indonesians on Friday.

It was Japan's fourth win in five games in the current phase of qualifying, coming despite a torrential downpour that started before kickoff and drenched the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium pitch.

The Japanese defence, missing the injured Shogo Taniguchi, struggled in the wet and goalkeeper Zion Suzuki was called upon to make a last-ditch save in the ninth minute to deny Ragnar Oratmangoen from giving the hosts a morale-boosting lead.

However, Japan's class eventually told, with Hubner's own goal putting Moriyasu's side in front in the 35th minute and, after Minamino doubled their advantage five minutes later, the Samurai Blue cruised to victory.

"I told the players not to let Indonesia come at us from the beginning, but we dealt with that pressure well although we had some scary moments," Moriyasu said.

"But after coping with those moments we played well and we upped a gear when it mattered. The players managed to do this by themselves on the pitch, so I was happy with that."