A B C D
E F G H
Japan clinches playoff spot
TOKYO (AP) -- Japan clinched a spot in Asia's World Cup playoff, beating Kazakhstan 5-1 Saturday.Yutaka Akita, Hidetoshi Nakata, Masashi Nakayama, Masashi Ihara and Takuya Takagi scored for Japan (3-1-4), which clinched second place behind South Korea (5-1-1), which qualified for the World Cup by winning Group B of Asia's second round.
Japan's win eliminated the United Arab Emirates (2-2-3), which plays its final game Sunday against South Korea.
Japan will play the second-place team from Group A -- Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait or China -- on Nov. 16 at either Kuala Lampur, Malaysia or Manama, Bahrain. The winner of that game qualifies for the World Cup's 32-nation field. The loser plays a home-and-home series against Australia for the final spot in the tournament.
NEXT ROUNDS: Round of 16 || Quarter-finals || Semi-finals
GROUP A: Brazil, Morocco, Norway, Scotland
GROUP B: Austria, Cameroon, Chile, Italy
GROUP C: Denmark, France, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
GROUP D: Bulgaria, Nigeria, Paraguay, Spain
GROUP E: Belgium, Holland, Mexico, South Korea
GROUP F: Germany, Iran, United States, Yugoslavia
GROUP G: Colombia, England, Romania, Tunisia
GROUP H: Argentina, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan