Japan becomes the first team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup after host nations

SAITAMA, Japan (AP) — Japan became the first team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup after beating Bahrain 2-0 at Saitama Stadium on Thursday.

Second-half goals from Daichi Kamada and Takefusa Kubo ensured the Samurai Blue secured a spot in Asia Group C's top two automatic qualification places.

At its eighth straight World Cup, Japan joins co-hosts the United States, Canada and Mexico in the expanded 48-team tournament.

“Thanks to the players for their efforts and the fans for their support,” Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu said. “We knew that if we persevered that the goals would come. We will try and win our three remaining games and grow as a team.”

Earlier, second-place Australia took a big step toward a seventh appearance by defeating Indonesia 5-1 in Sydney in the visitors' first game under new coach Patrick Kluivert.

Indonesia's Kevin Diks missed a penalty in the eighth minute, and 10 minutes later Martin Boyle converted his spot kick to put the Socceroos ahead.

Nishan Velupillay and Jackson Irvine scored before the break and Lewis Miller made it 4-0 on the hour. Ole Romeny scored for Indonesia before Irvine grabbed his second and the hosts' fifth.

The top two from each of the three six-team groups in the third round of Asian qualifying advance to the World Cup while the third- and fourth-place teams advance to another stage to compete for two more places.

South Korea stayed on top of Group B and on course for an 11th straigh World Cup appearance despite drawing with Oman 1-1 in Goyang, just north of Seoul.

Hwang Hee-chan put South Korea ahead just before the break and Oman earned a point through Ali Al-Busaidi's 80th-minute goal.

“People may think this qualification round is easy but we have to work so hard for every match,” South Korea captain Son Heung-min said. “A match like this can teach us a lesson. We have to take whatever positive we can from this.”

South Korea has 15 points, three clear of both Jordan and Iraq. Iraq was held to a 2-2 draw by Kuwait, while Jordan beat the Palestinian national team 3-1.

In Group A, Iran now has 19 points after a 2-0 win over the United Arab Emirates in Tehran to stay three clear of Uzbekistan, which beat Kyrgyzstan 1-0. The UAE and Qatar, which beat North Korea 5-1, both have 10 points.

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South Korea's Son Heung-min, left, and Oman's Jameel Al Yahmadi in action during the third round of the Asian qualifier group B match between South Korea and Oman for 2026 World Cup at at Goyang stadium in Goyang, South Korea, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korea's Lee Kang-in, left, and Oman's Abdullah Fawaz, right, fight for the ball during the third round of the Asian qualifier group B match between South Korea and Oman for 2026 World Cup at at Goyang stadium in Goyang, South Korea, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korea's Hwang Hee-chan, center, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal with teammate Son Heung-min, right, during the third round of the Asian qualifier group B match between South Korea and Oman for 2026 World Cup at at Goyang stadium in Goyang, South Korea, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Indonesia's Ole Romenij, right, celebrates scoring against Australia's goalkeeper Mat Ryan, left, during their soccer World Cup qualifying match at the Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Indonesia's coach Patrick Kluivert walks onto the field after losing their soccer World Cup qualifying match against Australia at the Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Australia's Lewis Miller, left, celebrates scoring his team's fourth goal against Indonesia during their soccer World Cup qualifying match at the Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Australia's Jackson Irvine, center, jumps to score his second goal and his team's 5th against Indonesia during their soccer World Cup qualifying match at the Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Japan players celebrate after defeating Bahrain in the World Cup qualifying soccer match at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japanese players acknowledge the applause from the crowd after their win against Bahrain in the World Cup qualifying soccer match at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan players celebrate with their coach Hajime Moriyasu, center, after defeating Bahrain in the World Cup qualifying soccer match at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan's Takefusa Kubo, center, celebrates with team players after scoring their side's second goal against Bahrain during a World Cup qualifying soccer match at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Takefusa Kubo shoots in an attempt to score during the World Cup qualifying soccer match between Japan and Bahrain at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan players celebrate with teammate Daichi Kamada who scored the opening goal during the World Cup qualifying soccer match between Japan and Bahrain at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan players celebrate with teammate Daichi Kamada, second left, who scored the opening goal during the World Cup qualifying soccer match between Japan and Bahrain at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan players throw water at each other to celebrate after defeating Bahrain in the World Cup qualifying soccer match at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's head coach Hajime Moriyasu speaks after defeating Bahrain in the World Cup qualifying soccer match at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan's Ao Tanaka reaches for a header during the World Cup qualifying soccer match between Japan and Bahrain at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan's Takefusa Kubo, left, and Bahrain's Komail Hasan Alaswad vie for the ball during the World Cup qualifying soccer match between Japan and Bahrain at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan's Daichi Kamada, left, celebrates with teammates, Takefusa Kubo, center, and Kaoru Mitoma, right, after scoring the opening goal during the World Cup qualifying soccer match between Japan and Bahrain at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan players celebrate after defeating Bahrain in the World Cup qualifying soccer match at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan's Daichi Kamada, right, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the World Cup qualifying soccer match between Japan and Bahrain at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japan's Daichi Kamada shoots to score the opening goal during the World Cup qualifying soccer match between Japan and Bahrain at Saitama Stadium in Saitama, Japan, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

LONDON (AP) — Heathrow Airport was up and running Saturday and airlines worked to clear the backlog after a fire at a nearby electricity substation knocked out power to Europe's busiest airport, disrupting travel plans for hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

The airport said it had made space for extra flights, but it is expected to take days to get stranded passengers to their destinations and displaced aircraft into the proper locations.

Here's a look at what happened and its impact on air travel.

A fire at an electrical substation in west London, about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the airport, cut power to Heathrow Airport late on Thursday.

Residents reported an explosion and a fireball just before midnight. The London Fire Brigade said a transformer holding 25,000 liters (5,000 gallons) of cooling oil caught fire. It said 10 fire engines and 70 firefighters brought the blaze under control after seven hours, but isolated hotspots were still alight 24 hours after the fire started.

National Grid, which maintains energy infrastructure in Britain, said the blaze damaged equipment at the substation and cut power to 67,000 properties, including Heathrow. It said power was restored to all of them by Saturday morning.

The “significant power outage” initially forced Heathrow officials to announce that the airport would be closed until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, but some flights began to resume on Friday evening.

Officials said there was no suggestion of foul play, but the cause is still under investigation. The fire brigade said its investigation would focus on the electrical distribution equipment at the substation.

Even so, London's Metropolitan Police Service said counterterrorism detectives were leading the investigation because of the fire's impact on critical national infrastructure.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said it was "an unprecedented event.”

“Obviously, with any incident like this we will want to understand why it happened and what if any lessons it has for our infrastructure,” he told Sky News.

The closure disrupted the travel plans of around 200,000 people who were expected to travel through Heathrow on Friday. Heathrow advised passengers not to travel to the airport and to contact their airlines to rebook flights.

With all takeoffs and landings canceled, the first impact was on dozens of long-haul flights from North America and Asia that were in the air when the airport was shut down. Some were forced to turn around, while others were diverted to airports around the United Kingdom and Europe.

Heathrow-bound aircraft landed at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam; Shannon Airport in western Ireland; Glasgow, Scotland; Manchester, England; Charles de Gaulle in Paris; Lyon, France; and Frankfurt, Germany, among others.

About 4,000 tons of cargo were also stranded by the closure, according to Anita Mendiratta, an aviation and leadership consultant.

The disruptions are expected to last for days as airlines move stranded aircraft and flight crews back into position and work to accommodate passengers whose flights were canceled. Mendiratta estimated that it would take two to four days to clear all the backlogs.

“This is an extreme situation where the entire aviation ecosystem is impacted,” she said.

“There will be two things that will be happening as a priority No. 1. First is airport operations and understanding, from an electrical system point of view, what has been impacted, if anything,” she said. “Did anything short out, for instance? What needs to be reactivated? And then how do you literally turn the airport back on again?"

Heathrow was Europe’s busiest airport last year, with 83.6 million passengers traveling through it. Its closure will have far-reaching impacts because it's a major hub for connecting flights to cities throughout the U.K. and around the world, as well as for travel to London.

Yes. Five other air hubs in southeastern England identify themselves as London airports, but they are much smaller than Heathrow. London Gatwick, Britain’s second-biggest airport, handled 43.2 million passengers last year. It's located in the town of Crawley, 28 miles (45 kilometers) south of London.

The fire raises concerns about the U.K.’s ability to withstand attacks or natural disasters that damage critical infrastructure such as communications and power networks, analysts said.

The incident is particularly worrisome given recent comments by Britain’s security services that Russia is conducting a reckless campaign of sabotage across Europe, said Alan Mendoza, the executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based security think tank.

“The U.K.’s critical national infrastructure is not sufficiently hardened for anywhere near the level it would need to be at to give us confidence this won’t happen again,” he said. “I mean, if one fire can shut down Heathrow’s primary systems ... it tells you something’s badly wrong with our system of management of such disasters.”

Robin Potter, an expert on resilience at London-based think tank Chatham House, said that successive governments have been slow to respond to repeated recommendations from the National Infrastructure Commission to strengthen the ability of Britain’s power, communications, transport and water networks to withstand major shocks.

“We still have yet to see a kind of clear response from the government to those recommendations,” he said. “And we hope that maybe in the government’s upcoming resilience review, which we expect will be published at some point this year, it might seek to address some of those questions.”

Heathrow defended its response. Its CEO Thomas Woldbye said “the same would happen in other airports” faced with a similar fire.

A plane takes off as Heathrow Airport slowly resumes flights after a fire cut power to Europe's busiest airport in London, Saturday, March 22, 2025.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Passengers on a bus look at a parked plane as Britain's Heathrow Airport has closed for the full day Friday after an electrical substation fire knocked out its power, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers at one of Europe's biggest travel hubs in London, Friday, March 21, 2025.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Planes are parked at the Terminal as Britain's Heathrow Airport has closed for the full day Friday after an electrical substation fire knocked out its power, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers at one of Europe's biggest travel hubs in London, Friday, March 21, 2025.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

This image taken from video shows parked planes at Heathrow airport, as a fire at the North Hyde electrical substation on Thursday night has led to a closure of Heathrow Airport in London, Friday, March 21, 2025. (Sky News via AP)

Omar Sheikh from Pakistan checks his phone whilst standing beside his lugage at Terminal 4 as Britain's Heathrow Airport has closed for the full day Friday after an electrical substation fire knocked out its power, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers at one of Europe's biggest travel hubs in London, Friday, March 21, 2025.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

No travellers are seen inside Terminal 4 as Britain's Heathrow Airport has closed for the full day Friday after an electrical substation fire knocked out its power, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers at one of Europe's biggest travel hubs in London, Friday, March 21, 2025.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Smoke still rises as firefighters inspect the site of the fire at the North Hyde electrical substation, which caught fire Thursday night and lead to the closure of Heathrow Airport in London, Friday, March 21, 2025.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

This image taken from video shows firefighters working to secure the area of a fire at the North Hyde electrical substation, which caught fire Thursday night and lead to a closure of Heathrow Airport in London, Friday, March 21, 2025. (Sky News via AP)