Kyogo Furuhashi scored at his old hunting ground and Junya Ito joined him on the scoresheet as Japan beat Tunisia 2-0 on Tuesday for their sixth straight win in international friendlies.

Celtic forward Furuhashi, back at Noevir Stadium — home to his former club Vissel Kobe — showed good composure burying the 43rd-minute opener before Ito doubled the lead in the 69th in Japan’s final match ahead of the Asian second-round qualifying for the 2026 World Cup starting in November.

On a five-match winning run and scoring a whopping 22 goals, Japan kept their first clean sheet in five games after they scored four in each of their last four matches while also conceding, including an emphatic 4-1 victory away to Germany in September.

This month’s two wins also saw Hajime Moriyasu’s side avenge their defeats from last year, when the Samurai Blue lost 3-0 to Tunisia in June 2022 and 2-1 to Turkey in a Qatar World Cup warm-up match in November.

Japan pinned Tunisia in their own half for much of the first 45 minutes, with the double pivot of Wataru Endo and Hidemasa Morita pulling the strings in tight spaces. The Samurai Blue initially failed to turn their dominance into shots until Furuhashi made that one chance count.

Following a flowing buildup involving Endo, Morita, and Takefusa Kubo, the ball reached Reo Hatate before his pass deflected off a Tunisia player and fell nicely into the path of his Celtic teammate. Furuhashi set himself up with good control and steered past Tunisia keeper Mouez Hassen from near the penalty spot.