A win in Saitama would have taken Green Falcons to Qatar 2022 Herve Renard’s team must now wait until March for another shot at qualification Saudi Arabia’s FIFA World Cup hopes suffered a blow on Tuesday with a deserved 2-0 loss to Japan in Saitama. From going into the game knowing that a win would clinch a spot in Qatar with two matches to spare, the first Saudi loss in Group B means that it could go all the way to the wire. Goals from Takumi Minamino in the first half and Junya Ito in the second gave Japan what was ultimately a comfortable win, and while Saudi Arabia are still on top in the group, they are now only a point above Japan. If Australia defeat Oman later today then just two points will separate the top three sides with two games to go, and with only the top two qualifying automatically, one of the trio will have to go through the playoff route. The Green Falcons are still in a good position, but March’s game in China is now huge and they are going to have to perform better than this. The opening exchanges had gone as Saudi Arabia would have wanted. It was quiet and the home team did not burst out of the gate and failed to build momentum. The early talking point was Ali Al-Buhaili, who received an early booking — that could have been worse — and then was seemingly set on getting a red card. A change had to be made before the midway point of the first half as Abdulelah Al-Maiki was fouled by Ito, by some distance Japan’s best player, and had to go off. The first attempt on goal from the away side came soon after, after 26 minutes, though Yasser Al-Shahrani’s low shot from a clear corner was always going a long way right of the Japanese post. Japan had barely threatened but moved ahead with their first attempt on goal. Ito ran past Al-Bulaihi down the right and his low cross found Minamino inside the area. The Liverpool man made a little space for himself and while Al-Owais looked to have made a good save with his feet, the ball looped into the net. Eight minutes later, the goalkeeper palmed away a shot from Ito inside the area, but while VAR checked for a possible penalty for a foul on Ao Tanaka from the rebound, nothing was given. In the final moments of the first half, Saudi Arabia added to their corner count to take it to five, but never caused any problems for the home defense. Changing that was the priority for coach Herve Renard as he made his way into the dressing rooms at the break. Instead, it went from bad to worse soon after the restart. Ito collected the ball just inside the right corner of the area and then let fly with a rocket that zoomed into the top right corner of the Saudi net, with Al-Owais helpless. Saudi Arabia continued to have plenty of possession but never really looked like getting back into the game. Japanese goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda had his first real save to make after 67 minutes, getting down low to gather a deflected shot from substitute Saud Abdulhamid. The group leaders pushed forward but were still unable to create clear openings, and it was Japan, much more impressive in the second half, who looked more likely to score. Neither team did as the game petered out with Saudi Arabia devoid of creativity or threat. Regardless, they still fly home as Group B leaders and will hope that Oman can take points from Australia later on Tuesday. If they fail to, March is going to be very tense indeed.