1 week ago
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FIFA Club World Cup
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It was heartbreak for Urawa Red Diamonds on Saturday in front of 25,090 fans at Lumen Field. The 2022 AFC Champions League came close to getting a result against Inter Milan thanks to an early goal by Ryoma Watanabe (11’). Lautaro Martínez (78’) with a sensational bicycle kick after a corner, and Valentín Carboni (90+1’) rescued three points for the Serie A giants. Still, Urawa Red Diamonds came very close to producing what would have been the biggest upset at the FIFA Club World Cup to date. Just to put it in perspective, the difference in squad value between the two sides is over €700 million.
While Inter Milan have the sixth most valuable squad at the tournament with an overall market value of €721.8m, Urawa Red Diamonds rank fourth from bottom with a squad value of just €19.85m (overview). Just compare the three goal scorers. Watanabe has a current market value of just €1.3m. That makes the 28-year-old the 39th most valuable player playing in Japan. Carboni has a market value of €12m, and Martínez ranks first in Serie A with a current market value of €95m.
Post-game, the Inter players were simply happy to have secured the three points. “The result is almost secondary,” goalscorer Carboni said. “It was difficult out there; they defended compact. We have the three points, and it is important to move on.” After the 1-1 draw against Monterrey on matchday 1, Inter needed the three points to stay in a good position to advance from Group E. The Italians can now advance with a draw from the final match against River Plate back at Lumen Field (Jun. 25).
FIFA Club World Cup: Urawa Red Diamonds close to second sensation
After losing 3-1 to River Plate on matchday 1, the J-League side now faces elimination from the FIFA Club World Cup. Despite putting up an excellent defensive performance, the Urawa players were disappointed after the game. “We expected them to play like that,” Red Diamonds midfielder Samuel Gustafson said after the match. Although it was an excellent defensive performance, Gustafson lamented the fact that his team didn’t attack enough. “If you are not able to push up and push back, then through the 90 minutes, eventually a ball will find a way through. That was the key. Yes, we are organized well, but we just can’t push back, and that’s not good enough.”
The statistics underline Gustafson’s observation. Inter Milan would finish the game with an xG of 2.26 versus Urawa’s 0.5. The Italians also had an incredible 82% possession. “We tried to keep them to a low block, but that wasn’t enough,” Gustafson said. The Swedish midfielder is right. Although the sensation was only moments away, Inter’s quality did come through in the end, preventing what would have been the biggest sensation at the tournament.
