River Plate vs. Urawa Red Diamonds predicted lineups, team news, score prediction: Madrid-bound Mastantuono set to feature

River Plate kick off their Club World Cup campaign with a Group E match against Urawa Red Diamonds in Seattle.

Lumen Field played host to an engrossing encounter on Sunday when Copa Libertadores holders Botafogo held on to a 2-1 scoreline in the face of a spirited late onslaught from Seattle Sounders.

River will hope to chart slightly more serene progress in a group that could come to feel wide open.

Inter Milan are favourites to take top spot but are smarting from being hammered by Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League final and the subsequent loss of their coach Simone Inzaghi.

Mexican side Monterrey complete the section alongside Urawa, who were beaten semifinalists at the previous, more slimline version of this tournament in 2023.

MORE: The entire 2025 Club World Cup match schedule & results

River Plate vs. Urawa Red Diamonds predicted lineups, team news

Franco Mastantuono will become a club-record sale when he joins Real Madrid for €45 million (£38.3m/$52.1m) in August, making this tournament the 17-year-old attacker's swansong at River Plate.

Experienced defender Gonzalez Perez, 16 years Mastantuono's senior, is likely to miss out with a muscular injury but Gallardo has no other notable fitness concerns.

River Plate predicted lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Armani (GK) — Montiel, Martinez, Diaz, Acuna — Castano, Perez, Meza — Mastantuono, Driussi, Colidio

Injured: Pirez (muscular)
Suspended: None

MORE: Full list of players, squads for all 32 Club World Cup participants

Full River Plate squad

Goalkeepers: Franco Armani, Santiago Beltran, Lucas Lavagnino, Jeremias Ledesma

Defenders: Marcos Acuna, Fabricio Bustos, Milton Casco, Paulo Diaz, Federico Gattoni, Lucas Martinez Quarta, Gonzalo Montiel, German Pezzella, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Lautaro Rivero

Midfielders: Rodrigo Aliendro, Kevin Castano, Giorgio Costantini, Ignacio Fernandez, Giuliano Galoppo, Matias Kranevitter, Manuel Lanzini, Santiago Lencina, Gonzalo Martinez, Maximiliano Meza, Enzo Perez, Matias Rojas, Santiago Simon

Forwards: Miguel Borja, Facundo Colidio, Bautista Dadin, Sebastian Driussi, Franco Mastantuono, Gonzalo Tapia, Ian Subiabre

Maciej Skorza is expected to have a clean bill of health in his Urawa Red Diamonds squad, who were last in action with a 2-1 win over Yokohama at the start of this month.

Urawa are fourth in the J1 League after collecting 34 points from 21 matches this term.

Attacking midfielder Savio is one of three Brazilians in the Red Diamonds squad who would no doubt relish causing River some problems.

Urawa Red Diamonds predicted lineup (4-2-3-1, right to left): Nishikawa (GK) — Ishihara, Ogiwara, Gustafson, Boza — Holbraten, Kaneko — Yasui, Matsuo, Savio — Watanabe 

Injured: None
Suspended: None

Full Urawa Red Diamonds squad

Goalkeepers: Alex Keita Malcolm, Ayumi Niekawa, Shusaku Nishikawa, Shun Yoshida

Defenders: Danilo Boza, Marius Hoibraten, Hirokazu Ishihara, Kenta Nemoto, Takuya Ogiwara, Rikito Inoue, Yoshitaka Tanaka

Midfielders: Samuel Gustafson, Genki Haraguchi, Jumpei Hayakawa, Takuro Kaneko, Yusuke Matsuo, Taishi Matsuoto, Yoichi Naganuma, Shoya Nakajima, Tomoaki Okubo, Matheus Savio, Takahiro Sekine, Kai Shibato, Takeshi Wada, Ryoma Watanabe, Kaito Yasui

Forwards: Hiroki Abe, Hiiro Komori, Rio Nitta, Toshikazu Teruuchi, Thiago Santana, Toshiki Takahashi

River Plate vs. Urawa Red Diamonds score prediction

River's previous excursion to the Club World Cup in 2018 ended in a shock semfinal elimination by Al Ain, perhaps due to an understandable hangover from their seismic Copa Libertadores final win over Boca Juniors.

With Gallardo back at the helm, they will be keen to make a better impression this time around and should open with an assured victory.

Prediction: River Plate 2-0 Urawa Red Diamonds

River Plate vs. Urawa Red Diamonds live stream, TV channel

All matches across the entirety of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will be streamed for free on DAZN across the globe. In addition, some matches may be televised in certain regions as per DAZN's deals with local networks and services.

Here's how to watch this 2025 Club World Cup group stage match across selected areas of the world's major regions: