India were handed a 7-0 drubbing by Japan in the Asian zone Group 3 first round qualifying match for the 2006 football World Cup in Germany on Wednesday.

In a completely one-sided match in Saitama, Japan, the hosts led 3-0 at half-time after opening the scoring in the 12^th minute through Kubo.

Fukunishi 25^th minute, Nakamura 29th, Suzuki 54th, Nakazawa 65^th and  77^th and Ogasawara 68^th were Japan's other scorers.

It was India's second defeat in three matches, having beaten Singapore 1-0, and lost to Oman 5-1 earlier.

Japan extended their lead at the top of Group 3 scoring their third straight victory. They had edged past Oman 1-0 and struggled to beat Singapore 2-1 in their second game.

"I cannot say which goal I like best but I'm glad we scored the way we usually do in practice," Japan's Brazilian coach Zico said.

"Alex (Alessandro Santos) produced a pin-point pass to Kubo. It was a really good pass and shot. Their good combination and accurate play triggered the onslaught.

"We have created many, many chances in our previous games too, but we couldn't score many. Today, even if it was 1-0, we played solidly, we defended pretty well, never losing our concentration until the end."

In recent friendly matches, Japan had beaten Euro 2004 finalists the Czech Republic and drew 1-1 draw with England.

Striker Tastsuhiko Kubo opened the floodgates with a 12th-minute strike. After missing two early chances he scored with a left-footer from a pass from Brazilian-born Santos.

Kubo then had a hand in the next goal, guiding midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura's cross for Takashi  Fukunishi to finish.

The third  goal came after Kubo earned a free-kick just outside India's penalty area. Nakamura made no mistake.

Kubo was replaced at half-time by Belgium-based forward Takayuki Suzuki.

Suzuki drove home a plie driver in the 54th minute following a long pass from Nakamura.

In the 65th minute, Nakamura floated a free-kick in for Yuki Nakazawa to score and second-half substitute Mitsuo  Ogasawara made it 6-0 in the 68th minute, only six minutes after coming on.

Nakazawa completed the rout, scoring his second goal of the match from a rebound from close.

India's English coach Stephen Constantine said: "There's not a lot you can say when you lose 7-0. I had said before  that Japan were going to give somebody a thrashing. I just hoped that it wasn't gonna be us, but unfortunately it was.

"But they (India) didn't stop fighting and trying and I thought they played as well as they possibly could against Japan at home."

Japan stretched their win-loss record against India to six wins against three defeats, with this Zico's biggest win since he took over after Japan's successful 2002 World Cup campaign.

Japan will visit India for their next match on September 8.