River Plate begins its Club World Cup journey with a 3-1 victory over Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds. While the score suggests a routine match, many aspects throughout the match highlighted River’s pros, cons, and corrections of a young team at the midway point of a season attempting to find its stride on an international level.

The first goal came from River Plate’s Facundo Colidio in the first half, from a perfect diagonal pass met by a gentle, purposeful close-range shot. River’s second came midway through the second half on a mistake from the other side, but it never felt like River was in command. Urawa was always aggressive and invested, pressing high and generating enough offensive opportunities to worry River’s back line.

€63.2m Wonderkid Steals The Show

Franco Mastantuono went from youth to overnight sensation. The 17-year-old wonderkid—was officially transferred to Real Madrid for €63.2 million.

Mastantuono started at right wing and showed why he’s worth such a price tag. He immediately cut inside to set up Marcos Acuna with a precise assist on River’s first goal. His quickness, off the ball run and ability to drag defenders was creating space for others. Yet he became less impactful as the game progressed.

He missed a golden chance in the second half—firing when he should have buried the ball. He got dispossessed in dangerous areas a couple of times. But he executed a great move on Urawa’s left-back and provided a well-timed through ball to Colidio that could have put him on the scoring end again.

River Plate manager Martín Demichelis noted postgame that Franco is still learning; what he shows them in practice and moments like today indicate that Franco has a very high ceiling. For a teenager under much pressure, it was a decent if uneven performance.

Mind Games? Misunderstanding? Or More?

Before kick-off, something strange happened that made people question each other’s good sportsmanship. Urawa Red Diamonds’ captain Marius Høibråten ignored the River Plate lineup and walked past them before handshakes were exchanged—cameras caught confused looks on many Rivers’ faces.

Was it intentional? Social media exploded dissecting everything from pseudo gamesmanship to after the match, Høibråten said it was unintentional; he saw the ref and walked to him instead of apologizing. He cleared it up in the locker room.

Unfortunately for Høibråten, it wasn’t his only mistake of the game. In the 58th minute, he thought he scored when he headed a close-range cross from another Urawa player. He was offside. Then about ten minutes later—after conceding another goal—Høibråten back-headed a ball in an attempt to help his keeper; instead, he found Sebastián Driussi to provide River with a 2-0 lead.

While Høibråten crumbled quickly—his numbers weren’t awful (four clearances, two interceptions) although disregarded—he played a generally composed match outside of glaring blunders. In games like these, seconds determine winners and losers; unfortunately, Høibråten was on the wrong side of those moments.

Old-School Coaching In A Digital Age

One of the more laughable yet fascinating components emerged from Urawa’s side when the score was still close—2-1—with plenty of time left. A Urawa coach walked over to forward Thiago Santana with a massive tactics board.

In an era of iPads, GPS’ and projector data visualization this seemed very retro. The board was packed with magnetic markers and lines. The message? Clear tactical adjustments. The reaction? Confusion, followed by laughter from fans nearby.

Needless to say, Urawa never regained composure; only seconds later did Acuña cross a near-post corner that was flicked home by Maximiliano Meza back to Lumen Field. 3-1.

After the game, Demichelis admitted they saw Urawa change their positioning and adjusted quickly; their players automatically knew how to respond to the situation.

While the tactics board may not have dictated who won or lost, it was an interesting anecdote to how differently cultured coaching exists—inspired adjustments (or lack thereof) impact from match to match with games of this stature.

Not Just a 3-1 Victory

In the end, River Plate came away with three points where three were expected but hardly like a home run. The blend of youthful promise, defensive shakiness, and tactical learning moments painted a picture of a team still evolving.

Not only did Mastantuono make his debut as a wonder from understanding miscommunication and misfortune from Urawa but Coach Urawa bringing a tactics board into play gave a nice blend of pedestrian but endearing human elements on display about world football.

This was a reminder that even in big tournaments, the human side of football is always on display. From misread rituals to game-altering mistakes, it’s never just about tactics and talent. It’s about moments. And River, for all their imperfections, created enough of them to move one step closer to their goal.

Their next match will demand more control and fewer lapses. But for now, they’re off the mark. And that’s what counts.