Overview
The new, expanded format of the FIFA Club World Cup will bring many unprecedented matches. River Plate and Urawa Red Diamonds will face each other for the first time when the two teams open the tournament in their home country.
Argentina's giant team, River, qualified for the tournament as the highest-ranked team in CONMEBOL's 4-year rankings. They will face Urawa Reds of Japan, who qualified for the 2022 AFC Champions League.
Both teams have a tradition at the FIFA Club World Cup as the top teams from their countries. This is River's third appearance in the tournament, while the Reds are participating for the fourth time.
River has faced Japanese teams twice in the previous FIFA Club World Cup format and won all without conceding a goal (1-0 against Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 2015, 4-0 against Kashima Antlers in 2018).
Most of the interest from Europe in this match will be on River Franco Mastantuono's 17-year-old striker, who will join Real Madrid when he turns 18 on August 14. Of course, Franco Mastantuono could face his new team in the later stages of this tournament.
Mastantuono entered the tournament in good form and full of confidence. He has recently become the youngest player to ever play for Argentina at the age of 17 years and 296 days.
In the Argentina domestic league, Mastantuono also had an impressive campaign. Despite only playing 929 minutes at Torneo Apertura 2025, he still had more shots than any other player (52), and also had the most goals and assists for the team (4 goals, 4 assists).
Meanwhile, Matheus Savio could be a dangerous player for the Japanese team. In the 2025 J1 League, Savio leads all of his teammates in assists (4) and chances created (41), shots (35). expected assists (4.2) and passes into the box (157).
Predicting the result
Supercomputer Opta predicts River Plate will win this match. They have a rate of 56.5%, while Urawa Red Diamonds has a rate of 21.2%. The remaining 22.3% chance is for the two teams to share points.
River are also highly rated to continue in Group E (49.7%), after the favorite team Inter Milan (94.5%). Urawa Reds are the team with the least chance to go far with 18.4%, behind Monterrey (37.5%).
Score prediction: River Plate 2-1 Urawa Red
The match between River Plate and Urawa Reds takes place at 2:00 am on June 18 (Vietnam time).
