{"id":29270,"date":"2025-06-18T18:39:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T09:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/?p=29270"},"modified":"2025-06-18T18:39:37","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T09:39:37","slug":"urawa-ulsan-start-cwc-campaign-with-defeats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/2025\/06\/18\/urawa-ulsan-start-cwc-campaign-with-defeats\/","title":{"rendered":"Urawa, Ulsan Start CWC Campaign with Defeats"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 17 proved a difficult start for Asia\u2019s representatives at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, as Japan\u2019s Urawa Red Diamonds and South Korea\u2019s Ulsan HD both suffered opening defeats in the expanded tournament.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Urawa fell 3\u20131 to Argentinian giants River Plate at Seattle\u2019s Lumen Field, while Ulsan were narrowly beaten 1\u20130 by South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando.<\/p>\n

Urawa\u2019s match was marred before kickoff by a controversial gesture from stand-in captain Marius H\u00f8ibr\u00e5ten, who refused to participate in the customary pre-match handshake with River Plate players. In contrast, his teammates\u2014including Shusaku Nishikawa, Matheus S\u00e1vio, and Takuro Kaneko\u2014completed the routine, leaving River\u2019s Gonzalo Montiel and Germ\u00e1n Pezzella visibly puzzled by H\u00f8ibr\u00e5ten\u2019s snub.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Urawa, H\u00f8ibr\u00e5ten\u2019s on-field actions would soon compound the tension. With River already ahead through a 12th-minute header from Facundo Colidio, the Norwegian defender underhit a backpass to goalkeeper Nishikawa early in the second half. Sebasti\u00e1n Driussi pounced, intercepting the ball and chipping it over the onrushing keeper to double River’s lead\u2014though Driussi was later stretchered off after a heavy collision during the goal.<\/p>\n

Yusuke Matsuo briefly revived Urawa\u2019s hopes by converting a 58th-minute penalty, but River Plate sealed the win in the 73rd minute through Maximiliano Meza, taking all three points with authority.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Florida, Ulsan\u2019s encounter with Mamelodi Sundowns was delayed by an hour due to a thunderstorm warning. Once underway, it became clear the K League 1 side, coached by former Malaysia boss Kim Pan-gon, were second best for much of the match.<\/p>\n

Mamelodi saw two first-half goals ruled out\u2014one for handball and another for offside\u2014but Iqraam Rayners’ 35th-minute finish ultimately stood and proved decisive. Ulsan\u2019s only meaningful opportunity came in the 80th minute when Mat\u00edas Lacava forced a save from Sundowns keeper Ronwen Williams, but it was too little, too late.<\/p>\n

The result handed the South African side a deserved three points and left Ulsan with work to do in the remaining group matches.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, two more AFC clubs will begin their campaigns on June 18. Saudi Arabian powerhouse Al-Hilal face a daunting test against 14-time European champions Real Madrid at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, while UAE\u2019s Al-Ain take on Italian giants Juventus at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

With both Urawa and Ulsan now facing uphill battles, the pressure is on for the remaining Asian sides to carry the continent\u2019s hopes forward in the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 17 proved a difficult start for Asia\u2019s representatives at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, as Japan\u2019s Urawa Red Diamonds and South Korea\u2019s Ulsan HD both suffered opening defeats in the expanded tournament. Urawa fell 3\u20131 to Argentinian giants River Plate at Seattle\u2019s Lumen Field, while Ulsan were narrowly beaten 1\u20130 by South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando. Urawa\u2019s match was marred before kickoff by a controversial gesture from stand-in captain Marius H\u00f8ibr\u00e5ten, who refused to participate in the customary pre-match handshake with River Plate players. In contrast, his teammates\u2014including Shusaku Nishikawa, Matheus S\u00e1vio, and Takuro Kaneko\u2014completed the routine, leaving River\u2019s Gonzalo Montiel and Germ\u00e1n … Continue reading “Urawa, Ulsan Start CWC Campaign with Defeats”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":25103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[927,302,926,1922,2428,1112,57,2970,2969,95,2968,2621,70,2838,1766],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29270"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29271,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29270\/revisions\/29271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}