Okazaki headed home his own rebound in the ninth minute after being initially denied by Ignatiy Nesterov to secure a top-two finish in Group A of the Asian World Cup qualifiers for the Japanese and a fourth consecutive World Cup appearance.

Makoto Hasebe was sent off for elbowing Uzbek captain Server Djeparov with two minutes remaining but the home side were unable to find a way past the Japanese defence, who kept their fourth consecutive clean sheet of the World Cup qualifiers.

The result severely dented the qualification hopes of Uzbekistan, who must hope that Bahrain fail to get a point against Australia on Sydney to keep alive their chances of claiming third place and a spot in the play-offs.

The home side began brightly but fell behind after nine minutes when Kengo Nakamura lofted the ball forward to a charging Okazaki, who shook off his marker only to see his shot stopped by Nesterov.

The rebound came straight back to Okazaki though, who headed into the unguarded net.

Japan nearly made it 2-0 three minutes later as Yasuhito Endo's well-struck free-kick from 25 yards came back off the left upright.

Yoshito Okubo bagged the rebound but his effort was ruled out for offside.

The Uzbeks quickly charged up-field and Alexander Geynrikh was only denied an equaliser by some desperate defending.

Just before half-time, Geynrikh was presented with another opportunity but fired wide from 25 yards while Endo's first-time effort in stoppage time went just wide.

The home side were fortunate to avoid falling further behind early in the second half when Hasebe's cross was sliced against the woodwork by Hamza Karimov

Shunsuke Nakamura sent a free-kick just wide with 15 minutes remaining but the visitors had to hold on in the closing minutes as the hosts laid siege to the Japanese goal.

Djeparov's in-swinging free-kick from the right flashed just beyond the far post two minutes later and the Uzbek skipper then hit the bar direct from a corner.

After Hasebe was dismissed, goalkeeper Seigo Nazaraki tipped Islom Tuhtahujaev's effort onto the crossbar while Djeparov sent a free-kick just wide of the target.