In a match played today at the Osaka Nagai Stadium, they went down 0-3 to Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
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“We will try to frustrate them”, Hiroshima manager Hajime Moriyasu told reporters on Tuesday.
The Congolese giants lost 3-0 against Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
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.
Five Ghanaian players will be in action for TP Mazembe on Wednesday as they take on Club America in the fifth place match at the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.
Sato is fully aware of River’s obsession with the title – it’s estimated that 15,000 River fans will travel for this tournament from Argentina – and know they will be an entirely different prospect compared to Mazembe, which Sanfrecce dismissed with surprising ease. “When we played here in August the opposition was speedy and technically skilled”.
Last victorious in the Copa Libertadores in 1996, the Argentinians have made two prior appearances on the global stage, both in the Intercontinental Cup, while their Japanese opponents boast valuable Club World Cup experience, having represented the host nation back in 2012.
“We didn’t have enough time to prepare as seriously as possibly we needed to”, said the crest-fallen Frenchman, who on the eve of the match had spoken with pride of the responsibility of carrying African hopes.
“It’s probably safe to say they’ve got more quality than we do”, Sato said of River Plate, the three-time South American champions. “There will be a special atmosphere and it will be completely different from a regular league game”.
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But Moriyasu’s side are likely to find that Libertadores Cup holders River have too much firepower when they compete for the right to face tournament favourites Barcelona or Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande in the final in Yokohama on December 20. “We’ll need to show more offensively, we’ll need to show more intensity and we’ll need to show more defensively”. “We will be prepared for a battle”.
