Football: Urawa beaten by River Plate 3-1 in Club World Cup opener
Urawa Reds were beaten 3-1 by Argentina's River Plate in their Club World Cup opener on Tuesday as Japan's only representative at the tournament conceded all their goals through headers.
Urawa, who made the revamped 32-team competition courtesy of their 2022-23 Asian Champions League win, were backed by raucous support in their Group E clash at Seattle's Lumen Field where their spirited display was undone by moments of casual defending.
Sebastian Driussi's low effort hit the right-hand post in the ninth minute before Facundo Colidio met Marcos Acuna's pinpoint cross from the left as River took the lead three minutes later, preceded by a fine pass by Real Madrid-bound 17-year-old Franco Mastantuono.
Urawa grew into the game and captain Marius Hoibraten headed home in the 32nd minute off a free-kick but was offside, while Matheus Savio fell outside the box under a challenge by River keeper Franco Armani two minutes later but referee Felix Zwayer waved play on.
Their momentum was halted when River doubled the lead three minutes into the second half with Norwegian defender Hoibraten's attempted pass to keeper Shusaku Nishikawa with a back header falling short, allowing Driussi to sneak in and nod home.
Urawa got a lifeline when Takuro Kaneko was shoved to the floor inside the box by Acuna for a 58th-minute penalty, which was cooly converted by Yusuke Matsuo who was a constant menace up front.
River began to show signs of fatigue as Urawa pinned them back, but the Japanese team were left to rue their defending once again when Maximiliano Meza was left unmarked to bury his team's third off a 73rd-minute corner.
A late volley from substitute Thiago Santana was denied by Armani as Urawa failed to cut the deficit, facing an uphill task to make the last 16 with Italian giants Inter Milan, who drew 1-1 with Mexico's Monterrey, up next.
"The match was decided by tiny details," Matsuo said. "We found things really tough at the start, but the positive was that we gradually found our pace and looked to dominate...I managed to get into shooting positions in the box and it's something I can build on."
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