River Plate says it will play its match against Monterrey 'as if it were a final'

River Plate coach Marcelo Gallardo stated this Friday that this Saturday's FIFA Club World Cup match against Rayados de Monterrey "is not a final" for his team, but urged them to "treat it as such."

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"It's a decisive match, not a final match, but we have to treat it as such," Gallardo said at a press conference at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, where the Argentines and Mexicans will face each other tomorrow. "It gives us a chance to achieve a victory and qualify," the Argentine coach added.

River Plate won 3-1 in its debut against Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan, while Monterrey drew 1-1 with Inter Milan. Gallardo said that Rayados de Monterrey "is a great team in Mexico, with a very good roster, with good players, and a prestigious coach who just arrived—Domènec Torrent—who will try to get his message across quickly."

"It puts us in a position where we're going to face an opponent that we have to respect, but we have to understand that we have our own game and with a win we'll qualify," he insisted. Gallardo also addressed the results of the six South American teams participating in the tournament, which have yet to lose any of their nine matches (six wins and three draws).

"South American teams are also strong, they can get results, and that puts us in a strong competitive position," he stated, referring to River Plate's chances. The coach asserted that the tournament is "opening everyone's minds" to see that "the gap with Europe that sometimes seems insurmountable" is no longer the case.

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Gallardo, ultimately, offered no clues about who will replace Sebastián Driussi in attack, who suffered an ankle injury in Monday's match against Urawa Red Diamonds in Seattle. "I don't have a player with those characteristics," said the River Plate coach, adding that replacing him would be difficult because "he's a player who was very good."

River Plate and Monterrey will play at 6:00 p.m. local time. (10:00 p.m. in Buenos Aires, 7:00 p.m. in Monterrey, 1:00 a.m. GMT on Sunday) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena (California), an impressive stadium with nearly 90,000 seats.

EM