Urawa Reds tasted defeat in their opening game at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 on Tuesday, going down 3-1 against Argentinian giant CA River Plate in Seattle.
Yusuke Matsuo gave Urawa hope of taking something from the contest when he converted a second-half penalty, but goals from Facundo Colidio, Sebastian Driussi, and Maximiliano Meza ensured River took all three points from the game.
River were the first to threaten in just the ninth minute at Lumen Field when Driussi’s effort from range came back off the far post, and Marcelo Gallardo’s side did move in front three minutes later when Colidio headed home Marcos Acuna’s cross from the left.
After taking the lead River continued to have the better of things, and while Marius Hoibraten thought he had equalised for 2025 MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE side Urawa in the 32nd minute, his header from Ryoma Watanabe’s free-kick was offside.
That did offer encouragement to Urawa though, and they threatened again three minutes before half-time when Takuro Kaneko saw a low effort from outside the area saved by River goalkeeper Franco Armani.
However, disaster struck for Urawa three minutes after the restart, when a defensive mix-up presented a golden chance to Driussi. The 29-year-old made no mistake as he stole in behind and beat Urawa goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa to the ball to bravely head home, taking a knock in the process which required him to be substituted.
Urawa were then handed a lifeline just before the hour mark when Kaneko drew a foul from Acuna, and Matsuo made no mistake from the spot as he steered crisply into the bottom corner in the 58th minute.
That allowed Urawa’s sizeable traveling support, which made up a good proportion of the 11,974 fans in attendance, to dream of a comeback, but those hopes were dashed 15 minutes later when Meza met Acuna’s corner from the left and headed home at the near post to re-establish River’s two-goal advantage.
Urawa didn’t give up without a fight and battled to the final whistle, with Thiago Santana drawing a superb save from Armani with a powerful attempt in the 90th minute and Matsuo seeing his guided header four minutes later sailing into the grateful keeper’s arms.
Urawa will now be looking to recover quickly ahead of their next game, which comes against UEFA Champions League runners-up FC Internazionale Milano on Saturday.
