The finalist of the last edition of the Champions League Inter could not defeat the Mexican Monterrey in their first match from Group "E" at the Club World Cup. The match at the "Rose Bowl" ended 1:1, despite the serious superiority of the "nerazzurri", sportal.bg reported.
Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos gave Monterrey the lead in the 25th minute, and Lautaro Martinez equalized in the 42nd.
Inter wanted to start with success at all costs, but in the second half Lautaro's goal was canceled for offside, and the defense led by Sergio Ramos of Monterrey withheld the final assault of the Italian giants.
Inter is a two-time winner of the Intercontinental Cup and winner of the Club World Cup in its previous format in 2010. The Milan team was left empty-handed at the end of a season in which it fought for the treble until the very end. After the heavy defeat with 0:5 by Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the Champions League, the team parted ways with Simone Inzaghi, and in his place the former Romanian international Cristian Chivu was appointed head coach.
Monterrey qualified for the Club World Championship as the winner of the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2021. Then the "white-blue" defeated Philadelphia Union with a combined score of 4:0. "Albisuales" can boast of two third places in the CUP - in 2012 and 2019.
Sergio Ramos led Monterrey with the captain's armband, and the names of Sergio Canales, Lucas Ocampos and Oliver Torres were also visible among the 11 of the Mexican team. Jesus Corona was on the bench.
Today's match was the first in charge of Monterrey for head coach Domenech Torrent. The former assistant to Pep Guardiola replaced Martin Demichelis.
In his debut, Chivu relied on striker Sebastian Esposito, who returned from a loan at Empoli, who partnered Lautaro Martinez in the forward positions. Cristian Aslani helped Nicolo Barella and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the midfield, and the three defenders in front of Jan Sommer were Benjamin Pavard, Francesco Acerbi and Alessandro Bastoni.
Physical problems left Hakan Calhanoglu and Denzel Dumfries out of the squad, while Marcus Thuram was among the reserves. New signings Petar Sučić and Luis Enrique also came off the bench.
In the first minutes, Inter dominated, but only managed a long and very inaccurate shot by Pavard. The young Esposito was quite active and showed good interaction with Lautaro Martinez. Aslani also impressed with his work rate in the middle of the field.
In the 21st minute, Barela feinted an opposing defender in the penalty area and passed to Matteo Darmian, but he shot high and out. Monterrey responded with a shot by Okmapos, which was blocked by Acerbi. After the corner kick, Sergio Ramos demonstrated that he had not forgotten how to score goals and headed the ball into Jan Sommer's goal.
Inter could have responded very quickly, but Esteban Andrada stopped Esposito's close-range shot with his foot. The Italians were increasingly pressing their opponent. Pavard was involved in every attack and took another shot, but without success. In the 37th minute, the Nerazzurri appealed for a penalty, but after consulting VAR, referee Wilton Sampaio ruled that there was no handball by a Mexican player in the penalty area.
Inter's better play paid off in the 42nd minute. A masterfully executed set piece checked the Monterrey defense and Lautaro sent the ball into the net after a low cross from Carlos Augusto. Seconds before the break, Cristian Chivu's team was close to a complete turnaround, but Aslani shot into the wall from a direct free kick.
The second half also started with powerful pressure from Inter. The Nerazzurri constantly exploited the flanks, and Barella wasted a clear chance in the 54th minute. Shortly after, Chivu brought in the recently signed Sucic and Luis Enrique instead of Esposito and Pavard.
In the 64th minute, Sergio Canales reminded us of himself with a masterful free kick, but the ball hit the post and Inter survived. The "Nerazzurri" were looking for victory and Lautaro Martinez sent the ball into the Monterrey goal for the second time, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
There was a lot of creativity in Inter's attacks and it was difficult for Monterrey's players to counter. In the 74th minute, Barella once again failed to score, and in the 77th minute, Lautaro Martinez received an excellent pass from Federico Dimarco, but sent the ball over the crossbar.
Nikola Zalewski also got involved with a lot of energy for Inter. The Polish international was the next to shoot at the goal, guarded by Andrada, but inaccurately. Monterrey had no intention of attacking and was trying with all its might to maintain the tie.
In added time, the Mexicans reached a corner and Ramos went into the Inter penalty area again, but his teammates played late and did not cross to the former Spanish international. Seconds before the final whistle, Deosa from Monterrey could have brought the three points for his team, but it turned out that he was offside.
Monterrey's second match in the tournament will be on June 22 against River Plate, and Inter will have Urawa Red Diamonds as their opponent.
Argentine giants River Plate started successfully and defeated Urawa Red Diamonds from Japan 3-1 in an attractive first match for the two teams from Group E of the Club World Cup, which was played at "Lumen Field" in Seattle.
Facundo Collidio (12‘) and Sebastian Driussi (48‘) gave the South Americans a two-goal lead. The Japanese managed to pull one back ten minutes later, through Yasuke Matsuo, but substitute Maximiliano Mesa in the 73rd minute sealed River's victory. Interestingly, all three of the Argentines' goals were headed. Real Madrid's new signing Franco Mastantuono played the entire match for River, impressing with his good performances and causing the Japanese a lot of trouble.
Thus, the “millionaires“ avoided the fate of their big rival Boca Juniors, who had earlier squandered a two-goal lead against Benfica. Unpleasant news for River coach Marcelo Gallardo could be the injury of Driussi, who was hit by the Japanese goalkeeper when scoring a goal and was forced to be substituted. This group also includes Champions League finalist Inter and Mexican Monterrey.
This is River's third appearance at the Club World Cup. The team from Buenos Aires is the best-ranked team in the COMNEBOL rankings for the last four years. River confirmed that they are in good form, having only lost once in their last 18 matches in all competitions.
The most successful coach in the history of the “millionaires” Marcelo Gallardo came out with an offensive 4-3-3 scheme, with Real Madrid's new signing – the great talent Franco Mastantuono, starting as a starter on the right wing and helping Sebastian Driussi and Facundo Collidio in attack. The Argentine team also included some familiar and popular names such as Gonzalo Montiel, Enzo Perez, Marcos Acuña, Herman Peceia and goalkeeper Franco Armani.
Urawa secured their place in the tournament after winning the Asian Champions League for the third time in 2022. This is the Japanese club's fourth appearance at the Club World Cup. Their best finish was third place in 2007. However, Urawa has only won the Japanese championship once, in 2006. The team has only two wins in its last eight matches.
The Polish coach of the Japanese team, Maciej Scorza, had chosen a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Urawa's attack led by Yasuke Matsuo, and behind him were Takuro Kaneko, Brazilian Mateus Silva and the team's star player Ryoma Watanabe.
River could have opened the scoring in the 9th minute. Sebastian Driussi entered the Japanese penalty area dangerously and shot dangerously, but unfortunately he hit the side post of goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa. Just three minutes later, the "millionaires" managed to take the lead. Marcos Acuña crossed beautifully from the left, right on the head of Facundo Collidio, who slotted the ball into the net - 1-0 for River Plate.
In the 28th minute, the Argentines were close to doubling their lead when Franco Mastantuono found Ignacio Fernandez, but his long-range shot went just over the Urawa goal. The Japanese found the net five minutes later, when Norwegian Maruis Hjølbraten headed home a cross from a free kick, but the defender was offside and the goal was disallowed. In the 42nd minute, Urawa had another good chance after a good long-range shot by Takuro Kaneko, but Franco Armani was careful and saved.
At the break, River Plate coach Marcelo Gallardo made two changes to his team, even though the team was leading, replacing his two inner midfielders Enzo Perez and Ignacio Fernandez. This seemed to have an immediate positive impact on the Argentines, who doubled their lead at the very beginning of the second half. After a misunderstanding in Urawa's defense and a poor clearance by Holbrathen, Driussi managed to get ahead of Nishikawa and head home - 2:0 for River in the 48th minute. However, when scoring, the River striker was hit by the Japanese goalkeeper and had to be forced to be substituted immediately after the goal.
Just six minutes later, Urawa had an excellent chance to get back into the game, after a penalty was awarded in favor of the team. Marcos Acuña committed a foul in his own penalty area and referee Felix Zweier immediately pointed to the spot. Yasuke Matsuo was behind the ball, and he made no mistake to reduce the score to 2-1. Shortly after Urawa's goal, Mastantuono tried to restore River's two-goal lead, but his long-range shot was saved by Nishikawa.
In the 73rd minute, however, River regained their two-goal lead. "The sinner" for the penalty Marcos Acuña crossed from a corner and Maximiliano Mesa, who came on at half-time, headed past Nishikawa - 3:1 for the Argentines. Nine minutes later, the very active Acuña again entered dangerously from the left and crossed to Mastantuono's head, but the new addition to Real Madrid shot just wide of the goal. In the second half, Franco Armani had to show his class and saved a dangerous shot by Urawa reserve Thiago Santana.
Mamelodi Sundowns won 1:0 over Ulsan Hyundai in a match from Group "F" at the Club World Cup, in which Borussia (Dortmund) and Fluminense drew 0-0 last night.
The start of the match in Orlando was delayed by a full hour due to bad weather conditions, and the only goal was scored by Ikraam Reiners in the 36th minute.
Hristo Stoichkov's former team dominated most of the match, and before the break, two Reiners goals were disallowed, due to handball and offside, respectively. Ulsan stepped up in the second half, but created almost no clear-cut chances.
Ulsan Hyundai operated with two clear-cut forwards in the person of Erik Farias and Won-Sang Um. The full-backs were the Pole Milosz Troyak and the Swede Gustav Ludvigsson. Another Scandinavian started in the middle of the field - Darijan Bojanic. Iago Cariello and Matias Lacava remained among the reserves.
Mamelodi Sundowns deployed in a 4-2-3-1 formation. At the top of the attack was Ikraam Reiners, supported by Lucas Ribeiro, Arthur Sales and Temba Zuane. A pair of inner midfielders were Teboho Mokoena and Marcelo Allende. The only foreigner on the bench was reserve goalkeeper Denis Onyango.
After a long delay in the start, the teams tried not to disappoint the few spectators in the stands. In the first seconds, Ulsan's defense made a blunder, but the situation passed without a goal. The South Koreans had a chance to open the score in the 4th minute after an attack on the right flank and a shot by Eric, but the ball went over the crossbar.
After a quarter of an hour of play, Ulsan was awarded a direct free kick just outside the penalty area. Bojanic was responsible for the execution, who shot very inaccurately. Mamelodi Sundowns responded with a pass from Rainers, and in the 29th minute the South African team's striker had a goal disallowed because he helped himself with his hand.
Rainers continued to harass Ulsan's defense and scored a regular goal in the 36th minute. He was brought down in a perfect way by Lukas Ribeiro and sent the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal. A little later, in an identical situation, Rainers showed his scoring instinct again, but a thin offside prevented the score from becoming 2:0 in favor of Mamelodi Sundowns.
At the end of the half, Teboho Mokoena shot dangerously from a direct free kick, but Hyun-Woo Cho cleared it for a corner. Ulsan could have equalized seconds before the break when Seon-beom Ko crossed for Ronwen Williams, but a Mamelodi Sundowns defender cleared from the goal line.
In the second half, Ulsan players came out more aggressive in midfield, but they lacked creativity in attack. In the 53rd minute, Mamelodi Sundowns' Lucas Ribeiro found himself in a good position, but was blocked and his team only got to a corner. For his part, the South Koreans organized several flank attacks that ended in inaccurate crosses.
The changes of the two coaches did not change the dynamics of the match. Mamelodi Sundowns dominated, but were careful not to make fatal mistakes in defense. In the 79th minute, Lucas Ribeiro jumped behind the defense, but looked for Rainers instead of shooting, and an Ulsan defender cleared. In the counterattack, a South African defender cleared the ball just short of the goal line.
In the 88th minute, there was a big scuffle in front of the Mamelodi Sundowns goal, but no goal was scored. A lightning-fast counterattack by the South African team followed and a shot by Tashreek Mathews went wide.
In the second round, Mamelodi Sundowns will face Borussia Dortmund, while Ulsan Hyundai will face Fluminense.