Club World Cup 2025: River Plate-Urawa Reds, the likely lineups
Seattle’s Lumen Field, the home stadium of the NFL’s Seahawks and MLS’s Sounders, will be the venue for the first match in Group E of the 2025 Club World Cup, that between River Plate and Urawa Reds. The group also includes one of the two Italian teams in the rainbow competition, Inter Milan, and Mexico’s Monterrey.
Although they have not won any international competitions in the last four years, River qualified for the World Cup thanks to their first position in the Conmebol ranking among eligible teams. The Millonarios are coached by Marcelo Gallardo and are relying, on the field, on the experience of goalkeeper Franco Armani, the defensive solidity of former Fiorentina player Lucas Martinez Quarta, the forays of Nacho Fernandez and the goal-scoring ability of Sebastian Driussi.
The Millonarios are a team that will be able to win the World Cup.
On the other hand, the Japanese club, at the World Cup thanks to its success in the 2022 edition of the Asian Champions League, is aiming to shake off its role as the cinderella of the group: it will do so by focusing on striker Yusuke Matsuo, as well as on interesting foreigners such as Brazilians Danilo Boza and Matheus Savio or Norwegian defender Marius Hoibraaten. On the bench is Maciej Skorza, a 53-year-old coach who is a four-time Polish champion, twice with Wisla Krakow and as many times with Lech Poznan.
Probable lineups
RIVER PLATE (4-3-3): Armani; Bustos, Diaz, Martinez Quarta, Acuña; Fernandez, Perez, Castaño; Mastantuono, Driussi, Colidio. All. Gallardo.
URAWA REDS (4-2-3-1): Nishikawa; Ishihara, Danilo Boza, Hoibraaten, Ogiwara; Yasui, Gustafson; Kaneko, Watanabe, Matheus Savio; Matsuo. All. Skorza.
