Kashima Antlers vs River Plate Predictions

Saturday’s FIFA Club World Cup third-place play-off action sees Asian Champions League winners Kashima Antlers doing battle with Copa Libertadores champions River Plate. The Japanese outfit will be looking to take full advantage of the exhaustion in their counterparts’ ranks in order to secure victory.

Kashima did well to eliminate Mexicans Chivas in the quarter-finals of the competition via a 3-2 win, but titans Real Madrid were always likely to prove a bit too much for them in the semi-finals and so it proved. Kashima put in a brave showing in Wednesday’s game against the Spaniards but fell to a 3-1 defeat, with Gareth Bale’s hat-trick separating the sides.

Nonetheless, with another big name in front of them on Saturday, Go Oiwa’s troops will at least be looking to go out of the competition on a high and it’s a fixture they’ll certainly fancy their chances in. Having lifted the continental crown, as well as finishing 3rd in a J-League which is of an ever increasing standard, Kashima are clearly an outfit that commands respect, which does make you question why they’ve been deemed as such steep underdogs for this match. Particularly given the shape River arrive in.

It’s been close to two months of absolute mayhem for Los Millonarios and whilst they achieved their main aim in beating arch enemy Boca Juniors in a historic Copa Libertadores final, mental and physical fatigue was there for all to see when Marcelo Gallardo’s men lost to the unfancied Al Ain in midweek; denying them the chance to contest the final.

With said two legged clash with Boca having been plagued by controversy off the pitch and eventually being finished on European soil, River simply look to have run out of gas and were far from their usual selves in the aforementioned match; something which they appear set to address in what is a relatively unimportant game here; with wholesale changes expected.

Ultimately, we’re really struggling to understand why Kashima are at such a big price and there looks to be great value in backing them to win. With both teams in optimum condition, you’d still give them a reasonable chance of claiming victory and given that River are going to play an under-strength, tired team, the Japanese side only look all the more likely to claim 3rd place.

We believe Kashima will be the more motivated of the two and are more than happy to have a play on them at extremely generous odds. After losing to Al Ain, River aren’t particularly concerned with the outcome of this clash and that could well see them fall to a 2-1 defeat.