SAITAMA: War-torn Syria booked a spot in the final stage of 2018 World Cup qualifying and a berth at the 2019 Asian Cup despite suffering a 5-0 loss to already qualified Japan in their final Group E match on Tuesday.

The Syrians finished second in the pool behind Japan and were assured of one of the four best runners-up spots across the eight Asian groups after Jordan were beaten 5-1 by continental champions Australian earlier on Tuesday.

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Syria, who have never qualified for a World Cup, are one of 12 teams who will be drawn into two groups for the third round stage with the top two from each pool qualifying for Russia 2018.

Japan striker and captain for the night Shinji Okazaki came close to marking his 100th international appearance with a goal, but it was Honda who nodded the third late on while Kagawa and Genki Haraguchi further inflated the score in stoppage time.