Facundo Colidio and Maximiliano Meza also scored for River Plate.

Yusuke Matsuo converted a penalty for the Japanese club in the 58th minute. Takuro Kaneko drew the foul and yellow card on Acuña. The kick was delayed by pushing and shoving at the penalty box’s edge, resulting in a yellow for German Pezzella.

Colidio scored in the 12th minute on a header off a cross from Acuña, and Meza restored River Plate’s two-goal advantage in the 73rd minute off Acuña’s corner kick service.

Key momentFranco Armani saved a strong shot from the center of the box by Thiago Santana in the 90th minute to preserve River Plate’s two-goal advantage.

TakeawaysAttendance for the noon kickoff was announced at 11,974. Lumen Field has a capacity of 68,740. But both teams had a significant fan presence for their Club World Cup opener.

What they said“Urawa fans are fantastic. And even though we are so far away from Japan, they supported us in a fantastic way, and we very much regret that we were not able to satisfy them today and to bring them the joy that they expected. … However, the tournament goes on. We still have two games to play, and we want to show ourselves from a much better side than what you were able to see today.” — Urawa Red Diamonds coach Maciej Skorza.

“I am extremely happy. Very happy with the win, with the way we handled the match. We had to start out in this way, and now we keep our eyes on the next match.” (AP) DDV