Only the heroics of Thailand’s goalkeeper kept the scoreline respectable as Japan eased to a 2-0 win in 2018 World Cup qualifying on Tuesday.

War Elephants custodian Kawin Thamsatchanan was heroic between the hosts’ posts as Vahid Halilhodzic’s men laid siege all night, racking up 11 shots on target by the end.

Japan therefore racked up their first points of the final qualifying round after losing 2-1 at home to UAE in their first outing and proved their intent from the first minute in Bangkok.

Genki Haraguchi opened the scoring in the 18th minute when he headed in Hiroki Sakai’s cross, before Takuma Asano doubled the lead in the 75th minute to make all three points safe.

Thailand finished the match with 10 men after the killer blow when Deeprom Prakit saw red for a bad tackle on Shinji Kagawa.