Internazionale narrowly avoided another misstep at the Club World Cup in the United States on Saturday. Stefan Vrij’s team, who was in the starting lineup, won only through a goal in extra time against the Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds: 2-1.
Inter surprisingly fell behind in Seattle after eleven minutes of play. Ryoma Watanabe tapped the ball in from close range for Urawa Red Diamonds, where Dutchmen Bryan Linssen and Alex Schalk were still under contract two years ago.
After that, Inter had the better of the game, but it wasn’t until the 78th minute that the 1-1 fell. Top scorer Lautaro MartÃnez was accurate. Both teams seemed to resign themselves to a draw, but ValentÃn Carboni thought otherwise. He made the winning 2-1 in the 92nd minute.
It meant Inter’s first victory under Cristian Chivu, who has recently become coach in Milan. Thanks to the three-pointer, the club also took a big step towards the eighth finals of the World Cup. Inter is top of the group with four points. The first group match, on Wednesday with Monterrey, ended in 1-1. The losing Champions League finalist will conclude the group stage on Wednesday against River Plate.
De Vrij played the full ninety minutes for Inter. He was on the bench for the entire match against Monterrey. Chivu decided to field a completely different defense against Urawa Red Diamonds. Denzel Dumfries was again absent from the selection due to an injury.
Earlier in the day, Borussia Dortmund won with some difficulty against the South African club Mamelodi Sundowns. BVB triumphed 3-4, but was 1-0 down after ten minutes. Dortmund then took a 1-4 lead. An end spurt from Mamelodi made it exciting again in the final phase, but it remained at 3-4.