River Plate not taking Hiroshima lightly ahead of Club World Cup semifinals

Copa Sudamerica winners River were in Japan over the summer, when they hammered then Nabisco Cup holders Gamba Osaka 3-0 in the Suruga Bank Cup.

Hiroshima, which wasn’t expected to win the J-League title this season, has overcome several key injuries to win two matches in the tournament so far.

The team from Democratic Republic of Congo, fielding players from Ivory Coast, Mali, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana and only one from their own country, made a bright start, weaving some neat passing patterns in midfield, and they had an early chance to get ahead.

TP Mazembe’s dreams of reaching another Club World Cup final were quickly extinguished when the African champions lost 3-0 to Japan’s Sanfrecce Hiroshima in their quarter-final on Sunday. “We want to play Barcelona in the final”. River coach Marcelo Gallardo fared no better when running out for River in the 1996 Intercontinental Cup, a match they lost to Juventus.

The stat – the number of players in the current River Plate squad who have appeared in a FIFA Club World Cup final, all without success.

“They didn’t do much to win it. We just froze”.

Mazembe, Club World Cup finalists five years ago, dominated the Japanese champions for long periods but lacked a killer touch.

“It’s tough for sure, with only two days in between games”, said Sato, the J. League’s career co-leading scorer alongside Masashi Nakayama. Thousands of fans of South American champions River Plate have been arriving in Japan over the last week, hoping their team can pull off a major upset and dethrone European champions Barcelona.

Yusuke Minagawa and Tsukasa Shiotani found the net in each half as Auckland’s assortment of semiprofessionals – who remarkably finished third at last year’s tournament in Morocco – were dispatched easily in drizzly Yokohama.

The Japanese side however advanced to the semi-final to face Argentine River Plate on Wednesday. It certainly didn’t seem like they scouted us because tactically, they couldn’t match up.

“I don’t think Mazembe took us very seriously”.