Having beaten North Korea 1-0 in their opening match on Wednesday (January 13), Japan sit at the summit of Group B on six points and are guaranteed a top-two finish with a game to spare.

Forward Musashi Suzuki opened the scoring for a dominant Japan in the 27th minute before Shinya Yajima made it 2-0 four minutes into the second half.

Thitiphan Puangjan missed a penalty for Thailand five minutes later and they were made to pay as substitute Yuya Kubo added Japan’s third goal 15 minutes from time before scoring from the penalty spot in the 84th minute.

"We are relieved to get the win and to score four goals in this game," said Japan coach Makoto Teguramori, who made six changes to the team that won against North Korea.

"We made a lot of changes for this game and we were able to show the comprehensive ability of our team.

"Thailand played very well against Saudi Arabia in their first game so that’s why I decided to go into this second game with some other players.

"I expected that if we could control the first half, it would be in the second half where the game would be decided and it went as I expected."

The other match in Group B saw North Korea’s captain Jang Kuk-chol score five minutes from time against Saudi Arabia to salvage a 3-3 draw and keep his nation’s hopes alive of qualifying for the knock-out phase.

Substitute Abdulfattah Asiri looked like he had inspired Saudi Arabia to victory after playing an important role in two second-half goals that put his country in front for the first time, but Jang’s intervention earned North Korea a share of the spoils at the Grand Hamad Stadium.

Saudi Arabia are in second place on two points going into their final group game against Japan on Tuesday (January 19), while North Korea and Thailand occupy third and fourth spot with one point apiece ahead of their encounter on the same day.

Meanwhile in Group C, Humam Tareq scored an 81st minute winner as defending champions Iraq secured a 3-2 comeback win over Uzbekistan at the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium.

The result means that both Iraq and South Korea, 5-0 winners against Yemen earlier in the day, have qualified for the quarter-finals with two wins out of  two.

The quickest goal in the two-edition history of the tournament from Dostonbek Khamdamov after less than 12 seconds put Uzbekistan into the lead, only for Amjad Attwan Kadhim and Mahdi Kamil to hand Iraq the initiative before half-time.

Substitute Timur Khakimov appeared to have preserved Uzbekistan’s hopes of a place in knock-out stage after heading home a 79th minute equaliser, but Tareq snatched the win just two minutes later to ensure qualification for both Iraq and South Korea with a game to spare.

Kwon Chang-hoon was the hero in South Korea’s emphatic win over Yemen, scoring a first-half hat-trick at the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Kwon, who was a second-half substitute as the South Koreans begun their campaign with a 2-1 win over Uzbekistan on Wednesday (January 13), opened the scoring after just 14 minutes before heading home a second 17 minutes later.

The midfielder completed his hat-trick four minutes before half-time, and the win was sealed by Ryu Seung-woo and Kim Seung-jun in the closing stages.

"What the players did on the pitch was what I wanted in this competition and I congratulate them for scoring five goals," said South Korea coach Shin Tae-yong.

Tomorrow’s action sees the return of Group D.

The United Arab Emirates and Jordan, both of whom won their opening matches, meet in the day’s second game following Vietnam’s encounter with Australia.

Three teams at the tournament will qualify for Rio 2016.