Urawa Red Diamonds 0-4 Monterrey: Berterame brace sends Mexican giants through

Monterrey qualified for the knockout stages of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) by beating Urawa Red Diamonds 4-0 in their final game of Group E, stretching their unbeaten run in regular time against Asian opponents to six matches (W4, D2).

Match Report

Always richly fancied to dominate against the already-doomed Urawa, Monterrey were the width of a crossbar away from scoring inside just four minutes, as Alfonso Alvarado’s header struck the woodwork. Urawa recovered well from the early scare though, as Matheus Savio’s dangerously whipped corner was saved onto the post by Esteban Andrada. Takahiro Sekine and Ryōma Watanabe’s efforts from close range were also well-blocked.

However, Monterrey started to turn the screw, as Alvarado almost capitalised on Shūsaku Nishikawa being out of his goal to shoot just wide. On the half-hour mark, the floodgates started to open for the Mexicans, as Nishikawa was eventually beaten from distance by Nelson Deossa, albeit too easily as the ball landed in the centre of his goal. Monterrey then found a second shortly after through Germán Berterame, who curled neatly through his opposing defender’s legs and into the bottom corner.

Monterrey saved their best goal until last, though, as Jesús Corona broke away before incredibly striking into the net from a considerable distance to give his team a healthy three-goal lead before HT. Both goalkeepers were called into early action in the second half, as Nishikawa saved well from Ricardo Chávez after the defender cut inside, before Danilo Boza’s header was tipped over by Andrada from a corner.

Roberto de la Rosa should have added a fourth for Monterrey in the latter stages, but Nishikawa saved one-on-one after a breakaway. There was late drama in stoppage time as Thiago Santana did tap home for the Urawa Reds, but it was disallowed for offside, before Berterame slid in to grab his brace. In the end, Monterrey sailed safely through to the knockouts, while Urawa suffered a fifth successive CWC defeat, crashing out of the competition with a whimper.

Match Events

30' GOAL! Urawa Red Diamonds 0-1 Monterrey (Nelson Deossa)

34' GOAL! Urawa Red Diamonds 0-2 Monterrey (Germán Berterame)

39' GOAL! Urawa Red Diamonds 0-3 Monterrey (Jesús Corona)

90'+7' GOAL! Urawa Red Diamonds 0-2 Monterrey (Germán Berterame)

Line-ups

Urawa Red Diamonds XI: Shusaku Nishikawa, Marius Høibråten, Gustafson, Ryoma Watanabe, Takahiro Sekine, Yoichi Naganuma, Matheus Savio, Danilo Boza, Takuro Kaneko, Yusuke Matsuo, Kaito Yasui

Subs: Haraguchi, Thiago, Ayumi Niekawa, Shoya Nakajima, Taishi Matsumoto, Takuya Ogiwara, Rikito Inoue, Shun Yoshida, Tomoaki Okubo, Toshiki Takahashi, Jumpei Hayakawa, Rio Nitta, Hiiro Komori, Kenta Nemoto, Toshikazu Teruuchi

Monterrey XI: Ramos, Stefan Medina, Andrada, Jesús Corona, Oliver Torres, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Chávez, Germán Berterame, Alfonso Alvarado, Fidel Ambríz, Nelson Deossa

Subs: Canales, Ocampos, Arturo González, Érick Aguirre, Luis Cárdenas, Santiago Mele, Jordi Cortizo, Gerardo Arteaga, Roberto de la Rosa, Víctor Guzmán, Luis Sánchez, Tony Leone, Johan Rojas, Iker Fimbres, Joaquín Moxica