River Plate 3-1 Urawa Red Diamonds: Three headed goals give Argentine giants first victory at Club World Cup | OneFootball

River Plate kicked off their Club World Cup campaign with a commanding 3-1 win over 2022’s AFC Champions League winners Urawa Diamonds.

Marcelo Gallardo’s side took the lead early on courtesy of a Facundo Colidio header, and despite losing some control after an imperious start, they’d double up at the start of the second half when Sebastián Driusi capitalised on a defensive mix-up to make it 2-0.

Urawa would pull one goal back thanks to a penalty scored by Yusuke Matsuo, but another River header – this time from substitute Maximiliano Meza – put the game to bed and ensured three points for the Argentine giants.

As it happened

Typical of a Gallardo side, River Plate started the game much as they meant to go on: in stark contrast to Boca Juniors who, against Benfica, sat back and waited for their moment to strike, Los Millonarios utterly dominated possession and the early chances.

Their first shot came in the second minute, when veteran Enzo Peréz blazed an ambitious strike high and wide, and their first notable moment of attacking quality came not long after. This time, striker Driusi spun past Marius Høibråten on the edge of the area and fired a strike hard and low onto the base of the far post.

Had that effort been on target, there would have been nothing goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa would have been able to do, and the same was true when River did convert a chance on 12 minutes. Real Madrid-bound Franco Mastantuono sprayed a glorious pass out wide for the marauding Marcos Acuña, who in turn sent a pinpoint cross into the area. Positioning himself between two centre halves, Colidio then raced onto the cross and powered a header past a static Nishikawa.

River were in front and had been good value for their lead, too; by the 22nd minute, they’d kept 76% of the ball, but for the rest of the half, they’d struggle to create any real chances.

In fact, they started to tire to a noticeable degree. Just past half an hour, Høibråten had the ball in the back of the net after looping a header over Franco Armani from a free kick, but his run into the danger zone was ultimately premature, and the goal was chalked off before there was even chance to celebrate.

The final minutes of the half produced yet more chances for Urawa. Matsuo first sent a golden ball into the six-yard box, where nobody was waiting to convert, before Takuro Kaneko dispatched the Japanese side’s first shot on target of the day, a strike hit hard and low from distance, but ultimately central and into the grasp of Armani.

Alas, after a halftime period in which River were allowed to rest and come back out rejuvenated, those missed Urawa chances were left to be rued.

Just three minutes into the second half, River doubled their lead with a goal gifted on a plate. Høibråten was involved again, this time limply heading the ball back towards Nishikawa, who came out to meet it but wasn’t quick enough. Driusi raced onto the loose ball, headed into an all-but empty net, took an inadvertent slap in the face from the goalkeeper and, to top it off, landed so awkwardly on his left ankle that he had to be withdrawn for Miguel Borja. River were two up, their striker having paid quite the price.

Though it looked like that was the goal to consolidate power, Gallardo’s side would shoot themselves in the foot immediately after. The ball flew into their box, Kaneko took a nice touch and Acuña crashed into him, not a thought of the ball in his mind: a clear penalty. Matsuo was the man to step up, and his finish was drilled into the bottom left corner with Armani having gone the wrong way.

They just couldn’t build on their lead, though, and when River won their first corner of the game in the 73rd minute, they restored their two-goal buffer. Acuña was the architect again with a wicked delivery from the set piece towards a more-or-less unmarked Meza. With room to spare, he nodded his effort towards the centre of goal – but Nishikawa’s positioning, the keeper stood too far to his left post, let him down. He scrambled across to stop the shot but to no avail, ultimately helpless to stop a third River goal.

Three headers, three goals for River Plate, and with Urawa were unable to respond, that was all she wrote. The result means Los Millonarios go top of Group E for now, with Monterrey and Inter set to face off at 02:00 GMT on Wednesday 18th June.

The lineups

URD: Nishikawa; Ishihara, Boza, Høibråten, Naganuma; Gustafsson, Yasui; Kaneko, Sávio, Watanabe; Matsuo