The new Club World Cup will kick off this Sunday, with 32 teams from six continents going to compete. To this end, The Athletic specifically analyzed the popularity and highlights of each group’s qualifying. Author Anantaajith Raghuraman brings us an analysis of Group E.
The E-Club World Cup may be staged several exciting matches, but the decisive plot is likely to be the second place competition.
Inter Milan is the top favorite in the group, and its opponents in the same group include the Riverbed in Argentina, Monterrey in Mexico and Urawa Red Diamond in Japan.
European Champions League runner-up Inter Milan, qualifying for this event with its UEFA rankings from 2021 to 2024. River Plate qualifies for the competition through the rankings of South American Football Federation during the same period. Monterrey and Urawa Red Diamonds are able to come here, thanks to winning the 2021 Central and North American and Caribbean Champions League and the 2022-23 Asian Champions League respectively.
The river bed is optimistic that it will follow Inter Milan as second in the group, but Monterrey may pose a threat.
The Athletic sorted out the group’s top hotspots, anecdotes and plot lines worthy of attention.
Schedule at a glance
June 18: Riverbed vs Urawa Red Diamonds (3:00 Beijing time)
June 18: Monterrey vs Inter Milan (9:00 Beijing time)
June 22: Inter Milan vs Urawa Red Diamonds (3:00 Beijing time)
June 22: Riverbed vs Monterrey (9:00 Beijing time)
June 26: Inter Milan vs Riverbed (9:00 Beijing time)
June 26: Urawa Red Diamonds vs Monterrey (9:00 Beijing time)
June 26: Urawa Red Diamonds vs Monterrey (9:00 Beijing time)
Hot Team: Inter Milan
The 2024-25 season was originally moving towards becoming one of the greatest seasons in their team’s history, but failed in the last few weeks. Naples beat Inter to win the Serie A championship with one point, and the city’s archenemy AC Milan eliminated them in the Italian Cup semi-finals, while Paris Saint-Germain defeated them 5-0 in the Champions League final.
All this eventually led to the departure of head coach Xiao Inzaji after four years of coaching, after the result of the last game came out.Job.
Former Inter Milan player Zivo took over Shuai Yin. He has only a few months of experience in coaching the first team of Parma. This Club World Cup will be his starting point. For the club, it is a chance to win some trophys to relieve the pain in April and May.
Their main competitor in Group E is River Plate. River Plate ranked first in the group with three wins and three draws in the Liberty Cup group stage, and will face Paraguay’s Liberty team in the quarterfinals after the event restarted in August. River Plate lost only one game in 16 games in the first phase of the 2025 Argentina Top League, winning 8 wins and 7 draws, and eventually trailed Rosario Central in the group and ranked second.
Galardo’s key players include Pezera, Montel, Rancini, Acunia, Mesa, and the temporarily retained teenage genius Mastantono.
Focus battle: Riverbed vs Inter Milan
In addition to the strength of the two teams’ lineups being better than Monterrey and Urawa Red Diamonds, the reason why this showdown is exciting is that both sides advocate a high-intensity ball-free oppressive style, at least this was the case with Inter Milan during the coaching period of Inzaghi.
Inter Milan conceded only 5 goals in the first 12 Champions League games this season, but conceded 11 goals in three consecutive games against Barcelona in the following two rounds and the final against Paris Saint-Germain. River Plate conceded a total of 16 goals in its 22 league games so far this season and the Liberators Cup.
Inzaghi’s player position rotation tactics require Inter Milan midfielders to retreat in the organizational stage to participate in defense, while the wingback or wingback needs to play the role of a winger in the offensive third zone. On the defensive end, the team contracted into a compact formation, forcing the opponent to revolve around it, while strong and tenacious defenders such as Bastoni and Archerby were in the penalty area.
Galardo’s first coach of River Plate was widely praised for his sharp offense between 2014 and 2022, and even won praise from Guardiola. When Guardiola began to let Manchester City’s fullback retract in at that time, Galardo still insisted on using the combination of fullbacks and internal forwards who stretched wide at high positions, forming a five-man impact on the offensive end through quick passes and cuts.
Gallardo returned to the riverbed last August, and during this coaching period, the team focused more on defense. As many as 22 of his 50 games ended in a draw. His once preferred 4-2-3-1 formation has been replaced by 4-3-1-2 or 4-4-2 many times, and his tactical focus has shifted to midfield control.
The confrontation between the two teams in Seattle will be the final battle of their respective group stages. If the results of the first two rounds meet expectations, this game is likely to become a direct showdown that determines the top spot in the group.
The dazzling superstars of this group
Although River Plate has barely a candidate for the above, Monterrey has a real superstar – former Spanish captain Ramos, who once won the Champions League and the old Club World Cup with Real Madrid four times.
However, Inter Milan, which has three Champions League trophys, 20 Serie A championships and 2010 Club World Cup champions, is obviously the clearest answer to this question.
Before the collapse at the end of the season, Bastoni had the strength to rank among the top five of the 2024-25 Golden Globes. Lautaro (22 goals) and Toulam Jr. (18 goals) scored 40 goals this season, while Dumfries made Barcelona suffer in that epic Champions League semi-final. Sommer, Cialhanolu and Mkhitaryan also contributed solid performances.
German transfer data shows that the total net worth of Inter Milan is as high as 677.8 million euros, six times that of Riverbed (114.2 million euros), and nearly ten times that of Monterrey (69 million euros). Although the Urawa Red Diamonds include Barcelona B midfielder Yu Abe who has played in the B League of the Segunda League, and Mattus Savio who debuted from Flamengo youth training, the total value of his team is only 20.45 million euros, and he is in the last seat in this group.
The most expected player to emerge: Bertrame
Mastantono is an obvious choice, but considering that his future is uncertain, we will focus on Monterrey striker Hermann Bertrame.
Bertrame is in excellent form this season, scoring 22 goals in 41 games. Previously, in Monterrey’s debut year in the 2022-23 season, he scored 16 goals and also scored 13 goals in the 2023-24 season. The 26-year-old shooter has become famous in Mexico and his native Argentina. His career began with San Lorenzo and moved to the Mexican League in 2019. This event will be a good opportunity for him to prove himself to the global stage.
As a traditional center, Betrame is good at holding the ball with his back. He is good at capturing the best shooting position and often cruising in the penalty area to the defensive blind spot. He is always a fatal threat to the back post and is always the first to capture the rebounding opportunity by instinct.
Bertrame’s left and right foot and header have a balanced ability. If Monterey wantsChallenging Inter and River Plate to break out from Group E, the striker who has made one appearance for the Mexican national team will be crucial.
Stories worth paying attention to
The four teams have never met in official matches. Therefore, even considering the detailed data analysis and image data in the football field today, Group E is still full of unknown suspense.
Inter Milan and River Plate only had one match in a friendly match in 1961, and they tied a 1-1 draw. The late Mario Corso made a contribution to Inter Milan, while former Brazilian legend Moasil scored for the riverbed. Thirty-three years later, Inter Milan also played a friendly match with Monterrey. With Shalimov’s goal, Inter Milan won 1-0.
In 2004, Inter Milan played a friendly match against Urawa Red Diamond during the pre-season tour, and Urawa Red Diamond won 1-0 at home in Saitama.
In the more recent confrontation, River Plate and Monterrey have played two friendly matches in the past two years: Lucas Beltran’s goal in January 2023 helped River Plate win 1-0; in January this year, both sides drew 1-1, Rodrigo Aguere scored the first record for Monterrey, and Marcelo Herrera equalized the score.
Things you may not know…
Montrey coach Domeneque Dorreat served as Guardiola’s assistant coach for eleven years, and the two won 24 trophies in Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. In May this year, Dorreat took over the coaching position of former Argentine international centreback Demi Kelis, who was fired after only eight months of taking charge of the coach.
Dorreat has followed Guardiola since his early coach of Barcelona B team, until he left Etihad in June 2018 and transferred to New York City coach. More than a year later, he left the FA League and coached Brazilian Flamengo (July-November 2020), Galatasaray, Turkey (January-June 2022), and Athletic St. Louis, Mexico (May 2024 to April 2025).
The 62-year-old Spanish coach Dorreat’s debut in coaching Monterrey will be the opening match of the Club World Cup against Inter Milan.