The Matchday 1 encounter of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup between River Plate (Argentina) and Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) will be held on June 17 at Lumen Field in Seattle, USA. River Plate vs. Urawa Red Diamonds: prediction and betting odds, statistics.
River Plate
The Argentine side will represent CONMEBOL in the tournament, having earned the right to participate in the Club World Cup as the top-ranked team in the South American classification over the past four years. River Plate will be making their third appearance at the Club World Cup, with their best result being a runner-up finish in 2015, when they lost 0-3 to Barcelona in the final. In the current domestic championship, the team finished second in the Apertura regular season and was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the playoffs. River Plate also advanced to the knockout stage of the Copa Libertadores, winning their group without losing a single match (3 wins, 3 draws).
Notable in the Argentine lineup is 17-year-old midfielder Franco Mastantuono, who has scored eight goals across all competitions and is the club's top scorer this season. Also worth mentioning are two players who previously played in the Russian Premier League: midfielder Kevin Castaño and forward Sebastián Driussi.
- The team has not lost in regular time in their last seven Copa Libertadores matches (3 wins, 4 draws).
- Both teams scored in the last four encounters of the club in this tournament.
- The Argentinians have not scored more than one goal in regular time in 7 of their last 10 Copa Libertadores matches.
Predicted lineup for River Plate (4-3-3)
Franco Armani – Fabricio Bustos, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Paulo Díaz, Marcos Acuña – Ignacio Fernández, Enzo Pérez, Kevin Castaño – Franco Mastantuono, Sebastián Driussi, Facundo Colidio.
Urawa Red Diamonds
Representing the Asian Football Confederation, the team qualified for the Club World Cup by winning the 2022 AFC Champions League. This will be Urawa Red Diamonds' fourth appearance at the Club World Cup, with their best finish being third place in 2007. In the current league season, the club is in third place, trailing the leader by six points.
Notably, Urawa has one of the least expensive squads in terms of market value among all Club World Cup participants, with only three teams having a lower valuation than the Japanese side.
- The club conceded exactly one or two goals in regular time in 5 of their last 6 AFC Champions League matches.
- The team scored in 13 of their last 14 matches in this tournament within 90 minutes.
- The Japanese side did not lose in the first half in 6 of their last 8 AFC Champions League matches (4 wins, 2 draws).
Predicted lineup for Urawa Red Diamonds (4-5-1)
Susaku Nishikawa – Hirokazu Ishihara, Danilo, Marius Høibråten, Takuya Ogiwara – Takuro Kaneko, Samuel Gustafsson, Rema Watanabe, Kaito Yasui, Mateus Savio – Yusuke Matsuo.
Referee
Felix Zwayer (Germany)
Matches – 8 (International matches, 2024/25);
Yellow cards shown (including second yellows) – 45;
Average yellow cards per match – 5.6;
Red cards shown – 1;
Average fouls per match – 24;
Penalties – 25%.
River Plate vs. Urawa Red Diamonds: Match Prediction
Considering the teams' performances on the international stage, a high-scoring game is expected in this clash. In their last 27 Copa Libertadores matches, River Plate failed to score in only three games, and in 14 of those encounters, they scored at least twice. However, in their last four matches in this tournament, the Argentinians have not kept a clean sheet, conceding a total of seven goals during this period.
Urawa Red Diamonds also regularly find the back of the net in international tournaments. In 15 of their last 17 encounters in the AFC Champions League and Club World Cup, the club scored, and in nine of those occasions, they breached their opponents' defense at least twice. However, the Japanese side does not excel defensively, having kept only one clean sheet in their last seven international matches, conceding 14 goals in the process.
My prediction: Total over 2.5 goals
