River Plate secured a 3-1 victory over Urawa Red Diamonds in a fun and entertaining Club World Cup encounter.
Both sides were full of attacking intent in a game filled with drama, goals, genuine entertainment – something that has not been a common theme at the tournament so far.
The match got off to a flying start for the Argentine side as Facundo Colidio opened the scoring in the 12th minute, finishing calmly from a Milton Acuna ball.
Despite River’s early dominance, Urawa Red Diamonds responded well and managed to grow into the game.
After a heated first half filled with aggressive challenges, resulting in yellow cards for Ezequiel Perez and Sebastian Gustafson, River Plate went into the break with a narrow lead.
However, Urawa struck back shortly after the restart. Yusuke Matsuo converted a penalty in the 58th minute to bring the Japanese side level, following a foul that also saw Acuna booked.
¡¡GANÓ RIVER!! 🤍❤️🤍
⚽ Facundo Colidio
⚽ Sebastián Driussi
⚽ Maximiliano Meza #FIFACWC | #RiverMundial pic.twitter.com/zBixsZyQoQ— River Plate (@RiverPlate) June 17, 2025
The parity didn’t last long. Just two minutes later, Sebastian Driussi restored River’s advantage with a nice finish.
As the game moved into its final phase, River Plate found their decisive goal in the 73rd minute. Meza, who had only come on at half-time, latched onto a second assist of the night from Acuna to fire home what proved to be the final goal of the night.
Both managers rang in the changes late on in a bid to turn the tide, but River held on to clinch a hard-fought win.
Urawa’s, Watanabe was shown a late yellow card as frustrations grew, but River Plate managed the game well in the closing stages to seal all three points.