Japan took an early lead thanks to Shinji Okazaki's goal in the ninth minute, the Shimizu S-Pulse striker heading home after his own shot rebounded back to him fortuitously.

They then had to hold on for 81 minutes to seal their fourth consecutive appearance at the World Cup finals, although as the tension mounted late on they were reduced to 10 men as Wolfsburg midfielder Makoto Hasebe was dismissed and Okada was also banished to the stands.

But with the vital win in the bag Okada was full of praise for his players.

"I'd like to thank our players for their hard work," said Okada.

"It was a tough game, as we had expected, and our players fought hard until the very end of the game. They showed their mental toughness when our opponents wouldn't let us play our brand of football.

"This is just the start for us. I'm grateful that we have got this opportunity."

The 53-year-old coach was, however, shocked to receive his first-ever sending off as a coach shortly before the final whistle for telling his dismissed player to leave the field.

"It was my first red card as manager," he said.

"I was telling Hasebe to leave the pitch when he was red-carded. I was just giving him an instruction, though. Obviously, they took it the wrong way.

"But I didn't worry about the rest of the game as I believed we'd win.

"I'd like to take the remaining two qualifiers to prepare for next year's finals, and would like to let our players gain some top-class experience over the next year."

Uzbekistan coach Mirdjalal Kasimov was left to lament what might have been as his side's hopes of claiming third place and a play-off spot now seem remote at best.

"First of all, I'd like to congratulate Japan for their World Cup qualification," said Kasimov.

"It was a game that we couldn't afford to lose. We were hoping to score first but we made a mistake and their opening goal changed our plans.

"Now we just have to wait for the result of the Bahrain and Australia game but I'm still hoping we have a chance."