Soccer-River Plate see off Urawa to make winning start at Club World Cup
SEATTLE, WA (Reuters) -River Plate opened their Club World Cup campaign with a 3-1 win over Urawa Red Diamonds on Tuesday, with goals from Facundo Colidio, Sebastian Driussi and Maxi Meza enough to see off a spirited challenge from the Japanese side.
The Argentine team got off to a dominant start and opened the scoring after 12 minutes when Colidio headed home a fine cross from Marcos Acuna on the left.
Driussi doubled the lead three minutes into the second half, capitalising on a poor header back from Marius Hoibraten to head the ball over the advancing goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa and into an empty net.
Striker Driussi was forced off soon after, having picked up an injury in the build up, and Urawa pulled one back in the 58th minute through Yusuke Matsuo, who calmly converted a penalty following a foul by Acuna.
While Urawa pushed hard for an equaliser, substitute Meza delivered the decisive blow in the 73rd minute, with yet another header from Acuna's corner, his second assist of the match.
River will face Mexico's Monterrey on Saturday, while Urawa take on Champions League runners-up Inter Milan in Group E.
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico CityEditing by Toby Davis)
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