Japan flattened Iraq 4-0 on Thursday, landing a crushing double blow inside the first 10 minutes of a friendly that offered the hosts little more than gentle target practice.

Early goals from Keisuke Honda and Tomoaki Makino put the four-times Asian champions on easy street in Yokohama, before Shinji Okazaki effectively killed off the game with a sharp finish after 33 minutes following some excellent play from Takashi Usami.

Japan, warming up for Tuesday’s home World Cup qualifier against Singapore, have now won all three games since Vahid Halilhodzic took charge after their Asian Cup flop at the start of the year.

“It was great preparation for next week’s game,” the Franco-Bosnian told reporters. “The team played a super match, were clinical in attack and could have scored more goals. It was a beautiful victory.”

Halilhodzic has insisted the Blue Samurai can remain undefeated this year and has the quality to reach the World Cup quarter-finals — the sort of hyperbole which has proved unhelpful to Japan’s cause in the past.

Iraq never seriously threatened Japan, who will be expected to open their 2018 Asian qualifying campaign by scoring a hatful against tiny Singapore.

Honda rattled the post after the break when Halilhodzic, prowling his technical area in a pinstripe suit, looked far less enamoured until substitute Genki Haraguchi added a late fourth goal.

Japan’s glass jaw was exposed at the Asian Cup in January, when the holders were eliminated on penalties by United Arab Emirates in the quarter-finals.

Halilhodzic, who led Algeria to the knockout stages of last year’s World Cup, took over after Mexican Javier Aguirre was sacked following the Asian Cup while also plagued by match-fixing allegations dating back to a previous tenure in Spain.

Aguirre himself was brought in after Japan crashed out of the World Cup in Brazil under Italian Alberto Zaccheroni.