Valentin Carboni scored in the second minute of second-half stoppage time to complete Inter Milan’s rally to a 2-1 victory over Urawa Red Diamonds in Saturday’s Group E encounter at the Club World Cup in Seattle.
Carboni’s strike rescued all three points for Inter (1-0-1, 4 points) 14 minutes after Lautaro Martinez’s brilliant, volleyed 78th-minute equalizer from a corner kick.
The result sent the Italians above Argentina’s River Plate (1-0-0, 3 points), who face Mexico’s CF Monterrey (0-1-0, 1 point) later Saturday in Pasadena, Calif.
Shusaku Nishikawa scored early for the second goal of the tournament and first from open play for the Red Diamonds (0-2-0, 0 points), who were overwhelmingly on the back foot from there on.
Inter led their Japanese foes 26-5 in total shots and 4-3 in efforts on target, though their first shot on frame didn’t come until Martinez leveled the affair with his 24th goal in all competitions this season.
Against the run of play, Watanabe put Red Diamonds in front in the 11th minute.
Takuro Kaneko created the opportunity with a wonderful slaloming run from the right into the penalty area that split two Inter defenders, before dragging a cross back toward the penalty spot.
Watanabe met it with a first-time, side-footed shot that deflected off another defender, wrongfooting goalkeeper Yann Sommer on its way into the bottom right corner.
Inter finally began to show more menace in the final stages, beginning with Martinez’s leveler.
Nicolo Barella sent in the outswinging service. With his back to goal, Martinez shielded a defender from the ball, then met it waist high with a volley sent over his back past goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa.
It was Martinez’s second goal of the tournament after he pulled Inter level with CF Monterrey on a set piece goal late in the first half of a 1-1 draw on Tuesday.
Then in stoppage time, Carboni was first to the rebound of Petar Sucic’s blocked shot from the edge of the penalty area, driving a low and hard finish from 10 yards into the bottom left corner.
–Field Level Media
