River Plate cut Urawa Red Diamonds down to size as Mamelodi become first African side to win at Club World Cup
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.
"We needed to start the tournament like this we knew we could do it, it was a tough game like we knew it was going to be," Colidio told DAZN.
"Today we were very effective and that's why we won. We knew we had to be intense too and we took our chances."
Urawa went close to equalising before the break, with Marius Hoibraten having a goal ruled out for offside and Takuro Kaneko drawing a sharp save from goalkeeper Franco Armani.
However, Driussi doubled the lead three minutes into the second half, capitalising on a poor header back from 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.
"I'm happy with the first game. There was a lot of nerves, it was important to win," River coach Marcelo Gallardo said.
"They are a physical, fast and dynamic team, we knew it was going to be like that. The goals gave us peace of mind ... we have room for improvement for what's to come."
River will face Mexico's Monterrey on Saturday, while Urawa take on Uefa Champions League runners-up Inter Milan in Group E.
Mamelodi see off Ulsan
South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns won their opening game at the Club World Cup as striker Iqraam Rayners netted the only goal in a 1-0 win over South Korea's Ulsan HD.
The result put this month's African Champions League runners-up top of Group F after Borussia Dortmund were held 0-0 by Fluminense earlier in the day.
It was also a first victory for an African side at the new-look 32-team tournament in the United States after Egypt's Al Ahly drew their opener while Esperance of Tunisia lost to Flamengo on Monday.
Rayners' goal came nine minutes before half time at the Inter & Co Stadium in a match that was delayed by just over an hour due to the threat of lightning in central Florida.
The teams had come onto the pitch to start the match before French referee Clement Turpin ordered them back to the change rooms as a precaution.
Rayners had two other first-half strikes ruled out after VAR checks – one for handball and the other inches offside.
The effort which counted was a well-worked effort with Sundowns' Brazilian playmaker Lucas Ribeiro slipping a pass through the Ulsan defence for the striker to poke into the net.
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