Inter Milan and River Plate are in control of their own play ahead of the final group stage match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. The winner will advance to the round of 16 as group winners. On the contrary, the loser must wait for Monterrey to not beat Urawa Reds to maintain second place in the group. However, Inter Milan and River Plate could have gone through together if the match ended in a draw of 2-2 or more, regardless of the score of Monterrey's win over Urawa Reds. In that case, all three teams would have 5 points, but Inter Milan and River Plate would have gone through thanks to a higher head-to-head record than Monterrey. However, that did not happen.
River Plate is a South American team, but their playing style is very pragmatic like European teams. They always take the initiative to play solidly to ensure they do not lose. However, the South American team needs at least a draw with a score of 2-2 or more with Inter Milan to decide their ticket to the next round, so it is difficult for River Plate to play solidly like in previous matches. The Argentine representative is a great team in terms of defense, and the balance in their playing style is helping River become a tough opponent for any team. However, that toughness is not for Inter Milan in this match.
Inter Milan had an unconvincing group stage journey. They only won 1 point in the opening match against Monterrey and had to struggle to come back against Urawa Reds. Although temporarily ranked second in Group E, Cristian Chivu's team still faces the risk of being eliminated if they lose to River Plate. In previous matches, Inter Milan attacked a lot, creating many finishing situations in the penalty area, but the efficiency was not high. In this match, River Plate needed more goals, so they had to attack, which would be the condition for Inter Milan's attack to play easily. In this match, when the Italian team had opportunities with favorable gaps, Martinez and his teammates took advantage of them to finish off the opponent.
Entering the match, both teams deployed a solid play to “listen” for information about Monterrey in the match at the same time. In the first half, Monterrey led Urawa Reds with a score of 3-0, forcing River Plate to need a goal because at this time, the goal difference between the matches between the 3 teams, the team from the land of “Tango” was the lowest. Under that pressure, River Plate tried to launch an attack to break the deadlock, however, an ineffective attack was always a big obstacle to River Plate’s desire to win.
The score of 0-0 was maintained throughout the first half and lasted until the 72nd minute of the match. Although not under pressure to score like River Plate, Inter Milan was the team with more dangerous situations. Only the goalpost and the excellence of goalkeeper Armani helped River Plate avoid conceding an early goal. However, in the 72nd minute, from a central combination, Esposito made a perfect first pass before neatly shooting into the right corner of River Plate's goal. The final blow to Inter Milan's opponent was the goal that doubled the gap in the 90+3 minute thanks to Bastoni.
With a 2-0 aggregate victory over River Plate, Inter Milan took the top spot in Group E, but their opponent in the round of 16 was a South American team: Fluminense, a team from the land of Samba who finished the group stage in second place in Group F.
Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/chien-thang-xung-dang-131364.html
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