River Plate Defeats Urawa Reds At Lumen Field

A Tuesday afternoon clash at the beautiful Lumen Field in Seattle, WA featured River Plate taking on Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds, where the game finished 3-1 in River Plate’s favor at Lumen Field. With 11,974 fans in attendance, both sides had their supporters sections in full voice. Urawa Reds supporters took the iconic Brougham End and River Plate supporters took the opposite Hawks Nest end of the stadium.

The crowds were sparser in the main two stands, consisting of mainly pockets of River Plate supporters in between the stadium ends. However, it was the Urawa Reds supporters that were loudest throughout the game, and it’s the continuous, unconditional singing from Urawa’s supporters that highlights the passion embedded in Japanese sporting culture.

Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network

River Plate’s Sebastián Driussi almost opened the scoring nine minutes into the match by hitting goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa’s left-hand post, but opening momentum kept falling in River Plate’s favor as they continued the pressure on Urawa. Minutes later, River Plate opened the scoring with a beautifuly-delivered cross by left-back Marcos Acuña to find the head of Facundo Colidio.

After trailing, Urawa began pushing back and registering momentum. The Reds thought they had equalized after earning a freekick and sent the ball into River Plate’s box, finding the perfect moment they needed and found goal—but the assistant referee flagged for offside and disallowed the goal.

Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network

River Plate opened the second half with doubling their lead, a mistake by Urawa center-back had a misplaced header and set up Sebastián Driussi perfectly for the finish. However, celebrations were cut short after the River Plate striker went down in agony when scoring, landing with a non-contact injury. The injury happened after Nishikawa closed down Driussi, and clutching what appeared to be his ankle or Achilles area, his teammates rushed over the training staff. Driussi was in no condition to continue and was replaced by Miguel Borja.

Urawa’s hopes were restored as they halved their deficit and won a penalty at the 55th minute. It was a clear-cut penalty, but the referee was immediately swarmed by protesting River Plate players. Yusuke Matsuo scored the penalty in front of his team’s supporters, marking a major milestone in Urawa’s club history with a Club World Cup goal.

Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network

Despite continuous pressure by Urawa, River Plate reestablished their lead 15 minutes after Urawa registered their name on the score sheet. Off a corner, substitute Maximiliano Meza won a clean, powerful header on target that was too strong for Nishikawa to parry away.

River Plate kept up the pressure to find a fourth with ten more minutes to play and registered another major chance that was barely short of a complete finish. Urawa refused to lie down, though, and earned pockets of possession and pushed everything they had into River Plate’s final third.

Urawa forced goalkeeper Franco Armani to a fantastic save with a close opportunity in the box within the final few minutes of the game, retaining River Plate’s two goal lead and ultimately squashing any hope of a late Urawa comeback.

Cover Photo: Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network