River Plate vs Urawa Reds Prediction: Mastantuono to light up Lumen Field

River Plate and the Urawa Red Diamonds get Group E underway at the 2025 Fifa Club World Cup on Tuesday (20:00, DAZN), as the Argentines and Japanese meet at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington.

Below are my River Plate vs Urawa Reds predictions, complete with all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Real Madrid-bound 17-year-old Franco Mastantuono, whose £38.5m summer switch to the Spanish giants was announced last Friday, is set to start for River Plate on Tuesday, joined in attack by fellow Argentines Sebastian Driussi and Facundo Colidio.

In midfield, European audiences may remember former Benfica and Valencia man Enzo Perez, while the defence is likely to include ex-Sporting and Sevilla left-back Marcos Acuna.

River Plate Club World Cup Preview

River Plate boss Marcelo Gallardo could also call upon former West Ham United playmaker Manuel Lanzini from the bench, as well as ex-Atletico Madrid midfielder Matias Kranevitter.

Urawa Reds' forward line is likely to be spearheaded by Brazilian attacker Thiago Santos, who scored 13 times in his first season in Saitama, including one spectacular effort from halfway which went viral online. The 32-year-old has suffered with injuries this year but returned to action as a second-half substitute late last month, making another cameo at the start of June, and he will hope to have proved his fitness enough to start Tuesday's game.

Urawa Reds Club World Cup Preview

Norwegian defender Marius Hoibraaten, Swedish midfielder Samuel Gustafson, and their leading marksman this season, Ryoma Watanabe, are three other notable players in Maciej Skorza's side.

River Plate vs Urawa Reds Odds

River Plate are unbeaten in their last 18 games, although two of those ended in a penalty shootout defeat, and the Buenos Aires-based club have been installed as 1/2 favourites for their Group E opener, implying a 66.7% chance of success. Their Japanese counterparts, meanwhile, are 6/1, or a 14.3% chance, to kick off their Club World Cup campaign with a win.

The draw is priced at 10/3, both teams to score at 10/11, and over 2.5 total goals at 4/5.

Betfred are offering five price boosts on this game, including River Plate to win and both teams to score, from 2/1 to 5/2.

Player to Receive a Card - Takuya Ogiwara (URW) @ 16/5

After spending time in Croatia with Dinamo Zagreb across the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, Japanese left-back Takuya Ogiwara returned to his parent club, Urawa Reds, at the beginning of the 2025 J1 League campaign, making 14 appearances (10 starts) so far.

The 25-year-old has only been booked once this year, and has by no means been a prolific carder in his career to date - his most in a league season was four in 2022 and 2023 for Kyoto Sanga and Urawa Reds, respectively - but his fouls per game average, and his likely direct opponent on Tuesday, are what draw me to him in the player card market here.

Ogiwara is averaging 0.9 fouls per game in the 2025 J1 League, despite four of his 14 appearances coming from the bench - he's averaging 66 minutes played per game - and in six Croatian Football League matches for Dinamo Zagreb in 2024/25 - just half of which he started - he committed seven fouls, averaging 1.2 per game, and received one yellow.

Today's Football Fixtures

The 5ft9in full-back was booked in one of his three Uefa Champions League appearances for the Croatian club, in a 4-1 thrashing of Slovan Bratislava. He was actually cautioned for dissent in that game, but earlier on, he upended Slovan's right-winger Tigran Barseghyan, who was fouled, on average, 2.1 times per game in the competition (three per game in the Slovak First Football League).

On Tuesday, Ogiwara will be up against another tricky opponent who is proficient at winning free-kicks, River Plate's Mastantuono. The teenager has been fouled, on average, 1.5 times per game in this season's Argentine Primera Division (Apertura), and in his most recent appearance, the penalty shootout defeat to Platense, the opposition left-back, Tomas Silva, was booked in the 31st minute for an off-the-ball foul on Mastantuono.

The newly-capped Argentina international, who was only introduced in the 84th minute of his country's 1-0 win over Chile on June 6 but drew a yellow card from La Roja defender Guillermo Maripan in the 86th minute, was fouled 10 times in the Copa Libertadores group stage earlier this year, with three opposition left-backs booked in those six games.

As a left-footed attacker who likes to cut in on his favoured foot, Mastantuono tends to start from the right, and that makes Ogiwara a prime candidate in the player card market on Tuesday.

Anytime Goalscorer - Franco Mastantuono (RIV) @ 7/4

Sticking with Mastantuono, I'm backing the River Plate star to properly announce himself to the world stage in style, netting on his Club World Cup debut.

He made his River Plate breakthrough as a 16-year-old in 2024, making 41 appearances and scoring three goals by the end of the calendar year.

Football Odds

It's this year, though, that he's become a real goal threat, netting seven times in 20 outings so far, including five in his last nine.

Crucially, he's also been entrusted with penalties, with his last two efforts coming from 12 yards, while his goal in the 2-1 Superclasico victory over Boca Juniors at the Estadio Monumental in April was a stunning long-range free-kick.

Offers

Wednesday: Place an In-Play single bet of £10 or more at odds of 1/2+ on any Club World Cup match played on Wednesday and get £5 in Free Bets to use In-Play on Thursday’s Club World Cup matches.

Double Delight & Hat-Trick Heaven: Get DOUBLE or TREBLE the odds if your winning First Goalscorer bet scores a 2nd or 3rd in all Premier League matches on Sunday

Acca Flex: Place a pre-match 5+ leg Football accumulator and get a CASH bonus up to 100% if all of your selections win or your money back as CASH if one leg lets you down

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