Celtic star Daizen Maeda admits it would be a dream if he could help Japan become the first team to clinch qualification for the World Cup in their next game in March.

Maeda was a late sub for his country as they eased to a 3-1 win in Japan. Hoops colleague Kyogo Furuhashi also came on as a sub, but Reo Hatate was left on the bench.

Japan could now qualify for the tournament as early as March 20, when they host Bahrain, after romping nine points clear of nearest challengers Australia in their group and ten points clear of Indonesia in the automatic qualifying places.

And Maeda is desperate to clinch qualification for what would be his second World Cup in a row.

He said: "We have collected as many points as we have because we have a group of outstanding players in the squad.

"We pay no attention to the opposition because we only concentrate on ourselves.

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"But it would be a dream to guarantee a place at the World Cup as early as this.

"I believe we have the strongest squad I have been involved with and the strength we have in every position is huge.

"When I play for Japan, I have a lot of responsibility both not to lose the ball and also to find my colleagues on the pitch.

"When we play as a team we will definitely make a breakthrough no matter who we are playing."