River Plate and Urawa Red Diamonds have plenty of Club World Cup experience behind them and their Group E clash Seattle is one of the most intriguing opening fixtures.
The Diamonds are gracing this tournament for the fourth time and claimed the scalp of Mexican side Leon two years ago before losing in the semi-finals to Manchester City.
They've made a decent start to the J-League season, sitting in third place, so they will fancy their chances of qualifying from a group that also includes Monterrey and Inter Milan.
The opener with River Plate will be crucial and the Argentines also know all about this tournament, having featured in 2015 and 2018. They've qualified for the expanded finals due to their impressive four-year record in CONMEBOL competitions and are also in decent domestic form this term.
River finished second in their Torneo Apertura group, losing just one of their 16 games, before bowing out on penalties in the quarter-finals after a 1-1 draw with Platense. That shows head coach Marcelo Gallardo has made them tough to beat and River Plate will also fancy their chances of getting to the knockout stage.
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How the bookies view it: Diamonds won't sparkle
There isn't a huge difference between these sides in terms of quality but BoyleSports make River Plate heavy favourites at 1/2. Urawa Red Diamonds look a bit overpriced at 9/2 while the draw pays 14/5.
Head to head: River back for seconds
These sides have never faced off before but River Plate did face Japanese opposition in the 2015 tournament, beating Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-0 in the semi-finals before losing to Barcelona in the showpiece.
Players to watch: Franco's scout to impress
Franco Mastantuono is one of the emerging stars of Argentinian football and European scouts will be keeping an eye on the 17-year-old at the Club World Cup. He has scored six times this season and is also on the set-pieces and penalties for River. The kid is 7/4 at Bet365 for a goal here but an assist looks better value at 3/1.
Ryoma Watanabe has been a big goal threat for Urawa Red Diamonds this season, netting six times from midfield. That makes him a decent long-odds option for anytime scorer at 5/1 with Bet365.
Probable line-ups
World Cup winner Gonzalo Montiel was River Plate's marquee signing in January, returning from a four-year stint in Spain with Sevilla. But he has missed the last month with an injury and is a doubt here.
Urawa Red Diamonds have no fresh injury worries and should be along similar lines to their last J-League clash.
River Plate: Armani, Acuna, Quarta, Pezzella, Bustos, Castano, Perez, Galoppo, Colidio, Mastantuono. Druissi.
Urawa Red Diamonds: Nishikawa, Ogiwara, Boza, Hoibraten, Ishihara, Gustafson, Watanabe, Yasui, Savio, Matsuo, Kaneko.
Anything else catch the eye?
River Plate have kept 12 clean sheets so far this season and that suggests Urawa could struggle to break them down, although the Argentines have conceded in their last three games. A win to nil for Francesco's side pays 7/5 at BoyleSports.
The same firm have under 2.5 goals at just 5/6 but there could be more value in betting against a goal in each half, which pays 20/21.
Marcos Acuna was a card machine at old club Sevilla and that trend has continued back at River. The left-back has collected five yellows this term and is 2/1 at Bet365 to collect another card.
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