The week in Asian football

Talking points from the week in Asian football:

TANAKA STRIKES TWICE AS JAPAN'S WINNING RUN CONTINUES

Japan recorded their fifth straight win on Friday after two goals from Ao Tanaka helped them to a 4-1 victory over Canada. Japan have scored 22 goals during that run, which included victories over Germany and Turkey in September.

Tanaka opened the scoring in the second minute in Niigata before an Alphonso Davies own goal and close-range finish from Keito Nakamura made it 3-0 before the break.

Tanaka hit Japan's fourth in the 49th minute before Junior Hoillet scored a late consolation for Canada.

LEE DOUBLE DOWNS TUNISIA TO EASE PRESSURE ON KLINSMANN

Lee Kang-in scored twice to further ease the pressure on coach Juergen Klinsmann as South Korea secured a 4-0 win over Tunisia in Seoul on Friday.

The Paris St Germain playmaker opened the scoring with a 55th minute free kick before doubling his side's advantage two minutes later with a strike into the bottom corner.

Yassine Meriah's own goal and Hwang Ui-jo's injury-time tally sealed Korea's second straight victory under Klinsmann, whose side failed to record a win in their first five matches under the German.

HONG KONG MOVE TOWARDS SECOND ROUND OF WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Hong Kong eased to a 4-0 win over Bhutan on Thursday to take a big step towards the second round of Asia's preliminaries for the 2026 World Cup.

Myanmar also secured a comfortable victory, scoring four times in the final half hour to beat Macau 5-1 in Yangon, while Indonesia cruised to a 6-0 win over Brunei in Jakarta.

Taiwan, Singapore, Afghanistan and Yemen also claimed first-leg leads. The return matches will be played on Tuesday.

AUSTRALIAN TRIO NOMINATED FOR ASIAN CONFEDERATION AWARDS

Australia's Sam Kerr and Mathew Leckie were nominated for the Asian Football Confederation's Player of the Year awards, with national team boss Graham Arnold named on the shortlist for best coach.

Chelsea striker Kerr headlines a three-player list for the women's award that includes China's Zhang Linyan and Japan's Saki Kumagai. Leckie will vie for the men's award with Qatar's Almoez Ali and Salem Al Dawsari from Saudi Arabia.

Japan's Hajime Moriyasu, who masterminded his side's wins over Germany and Spain at the World Cup, and Saad Al Shehri, the coach of Saudi Arabia's Under 23 Asian Cup winning side last year, have also been nominated for the best coach award.