Ruthless Japan hit Afghanistan for six

Masato Morishige and Keisuke Honda also found the net for the Samurai Blue, who picked up their second successive win after being held to a shock goalless home draw by Singapore in their opening Group E fixture in June.

Manager Vahid Halilhodzic made one change to the Japan side who defeated lowly Cambodia 3-0 last week, bringing in Genki Haraguchi for striker Yoshinori Muto and the team did not have to wait for long for their opening goal.

Borussia Dortmund playmaker Kagawa, who also scored in the last match, struck in the 10th minute and Morishige doubled the lead 10 minutes before halftime for Japan, ranked 58th in the world.

Japan put the match to bed against 130th-ranked Afghanistan early in the second half when they scored three goals in the space of 10 minutes starting with the second from former Manchester United midfielder Kagawa in the 50th minute.

Okazaki made it 4-0 in the 57th and grabbed another three minutes later for his brace.

Honda netted in the 74th minute for his second goal in as many matches to complete the demolition.

The victory took Japan to seven points in second place in the group, two points behind Syria who they meet in their next qualifier in Oman on Oct. 8.

(Writing by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Ed Osmond)