DOHA (Kyodo) -- Japan defeated China 1-0 in the 2022 World Cup final Asian qualifiers on Tuesday, claiming their first Group B win.

       Samurai Blue bounced back from Thursday's disastrous 1-0 home loss to Oman to pick up three points at Khalifa International Stadium, one of the venues for next year's finals in Qatar.

       The away tie was moved to a neutral site due to COVID-19 travel restrictions in China.

       Japan, 24th in the FIFA rankings, have reached the last six World Cup finals since their 1998 debut.

       China, ranked 71st, have made the finals once, in 2002. They lost their first game of the final qualifying round 3-0 to Australia.

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