Urawa Reds were eliminated from the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 in heartbreaking fashion on Saturday, conceding in injury time to go down 2-1 against FC Internazionale Milano.
Urawa had taken the lead against the run of play when Ryoma Watanabe scored in the 11th minute at Lumen Field, but Lautaro Martinez levelled things up with 12 minutes to play and Valentin Carboni was on hand to strike the killer blow in the 92nd minute.
Urawa were once again roared on by a huge number of their fans in Seattle, and while Internazionale had most of the possession in the opening 10 minutes it was the 2025 MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE side that took the lead.
Takuro Kaneko did superbly to break into space and cut the ball back from the right-hand side, and Watanabe was on hand to sweep home from just past the penalty spot.
Martinez thundered a header against the crossbar from the edge of the six-yard box eight minutes later as Internazionale looked to strike back, but that was the closest the Serie A side would come in the first half and Urawa made it to the break with their one-goal lead intact.
The second half also started with Internazionale knocking on the door, and in the opening 15 minutes of the second period Kristjan Asllani went close with a couple of attempts and Federico Dimarco also sent an ambitious volley just off target.
Urawa then had a terrific chance to double their lead from a swift counter attack in the 70th minute, but Watanabe couldn’t get his shot on target after Yusuke Matsuo had carried the ball forward and laid it into his path.
Maciej Skorza’s side were made to pay for that miss eight minutes later, as Martinez finally found a way past Urawa goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa, hooking Nicolo Barella's low corner acrobatically into the net at the near post.
That offered encouragement to the UEFA Champions League runners-up, and as they applied increasing pressure to the Urawa goal as the clock ticked down the dam finally broke in the second minute of stoppage time.
Petar Sucic saw his shot from the right side of the area blocked, but Carboni was on hand to calmly side-foot the rebound home and secure all three points for Internazionale.
The defeat means Urawa cannot now progress to the Round of 16, but they still have one game remaining in Group E, and they will be determined to conclude their tournament with a positive result in Wednesday’s clash against CF Monterrey of Mexico.
