River Plate 3 Urawa Red Diamonds 1: Mastantuono, mind games and one really massive tactics board

New York Times

5 hours ago

River Plate kicked off their Club World Cup campaign with a 3-1 victory over Urawa Red Diamonds.
Facundo Colidio gave River the perfect start, heading home after 12 minutes, and Sebastian Driussi doubled his side's lead shortly after the break after capitalising on a Red Diamonds defensive mix-up.
Yusuke Matsuo halved the deficit from the penalty spot just before the hour mark after Marcos Acuna fouled Takuro Kaneko. The River full-back made up for his error with his second assist of the match though, as his corner was headed home by Maximiliano Meza on 73 minutes to make it 3-1.
Andy Jones runs through the talking points from River's 2-1 win at Lumen Field…
In the space of a few months 17-year-old Franco Mastantuono has gone from a relatively unknown teenager playing for River Plate to Argentina's youngest ever senior international and a Real Madrid player.
After the Spanish side triggered his €45million release clause – with the deal totalling €63.2million – he will officially join them on August 18 when he turns 18. The attacker will have to get used to being under the microscope with plenty more people interested in his performances in this tournament.
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While some have made the bold statement of labelling him as the new Lionel Messi, this was not quite the jaw dropping performance that backed up those comparisons – but expectations have to be managed for a player still in the infancy of his career.
He did play a key role in his team's opening goal as he surged inside from the right wing and spread a pass out to the left. Marcos Acuna delivered a perfect cross which gave Facundo Colidio the simple task of heading home after 12 minutes.
CÓMO JUEGA RIVER AL FÚTBOL, PAPÁ 😍🙌
Franco Mastantuono pone la fantasía, Acuña el pase y Colidio la cabeza 🤌@FIFACWC | Todos los partidos gratis en https://t.co/OFe1FpBGjK | #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld pic.twitter.com/BjGuwrGEZX
— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) June 17, 2025
Aside from that Mastantuono was quiet in the opening half an hour but as the game went on he began to show why there is so much excitement about his potential. He became the focal point of the River Plate attack, using his gangly frame to carry the ball and wrong-foot defenders, but despite his best efforts it turned into one of those days where everything he tried didn't quite come off.
There are more games to come, and with this victory the Argentinian side have put themselves in a good position to qualify, giving Mastantuono more opportunities to show off his undoubted talent.
There has been plenty of talk about the team introductions ahead of each Club World Cup match with players walking out individually and lining up facing each other in a time-consuming exercise.
Urawa Red Diamonds captain Marius Hoibraten seems to share the view of those who are not fans of it – or he's the king of the mind games.
As he led his side towards their opponents, Hoibraten opted for a blank stare as he marched past his opponents…
While the rest of his team shook hands with the Argentinian side behind him.
It was an odd moment, and the bemused faces of the River players only added to the hilarity of the moment.
While it is unlikely to have been intentional, it is some exceptional gamesmanship if it was. Forget your fair play and sportsmanship, this is business.
It looked like it had worked perfectly when he looped a header beyond River goalkeeper Franco Armani to score what he thought was an equaliser. As he got ready to celebrate he was denied by the offside flag.
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Instead, it was another header which was a key moment in the game for all the wrong reasons. Shortly after the second half began, his attempted header back to his goalkeeper was pounced on by Sebastian Driussi who beat Shusaku Nishikawa to the ball to double his side's lead. It was far from the ideal outcome.
In the defender's defence, the club captain is Takahiro Sekine who began on the bench so he might just have been too concerned with other responsibilities.
He probably won't forget to shake hands next time.
In an age where everything in football is about data and instant video analysis on iPads, Urawa Red Diamonds aren't interested in that nonsense.
As they prepared to make a double substitution midway through the second half, one of the team's coaching staff was briefing imminent arrival Thiago Santos Santana as they tried to get back on level terms – by using the biggest tactics sheet arguably the world has ever seen.
Proper old school. Proper football.
In an industry now where so much is hidden to deny opponents from gaining an upper hand, the large tactical diagrams left little mystery as to their tactics and set-up.
Even the 5,000 Urawa fans, who travelled over from Japan and did not stop chanting and bouncing all game, positioned behind one of the goals could have read the instructions being dished out.
Unfortunately, it apparently didn't have a solution for defending a near post corner as two minutes after the substitutions were made, Maximiliano Meza drifted into space left by the Japanese side's zonal marking system to head home Acuna's corner and restore his side's two goal advantage. The goalkeeping was poor, the defending not much better.
Back to the drawing board on the set pieces for the Red Diamonds.
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