Always richly fancied to dominate against the already-doomed Urawa, Monterrey were the width of a crossbar away from scoring inside just four minutes, as Alfonso Alvarado’s header struck the woodwork.
Urawa recovered well from the early scare, though, as Matheus Savio’s dangerously whipped corner was saved onto the post by Esteban Andrada. Takahiro Sekine and Ryoma Watanabe’s efforts from close range were also well-blocked.
However, Monterrey started to turn the screw, as Alvarado almost capitalised on Shusaku Nishikawa being out of his goal to shoot just wide.
On the half-hour mark, the floodgates started to open for the Mexicans, as Nishikawa was eventually beaten from distance by Nelson Deossa, albeit too easily, as the ball landed in the centre of his goal.
Monterrey then found a second shortly after through German Berterame, who curled neatly through his opposing defender’s legs and into the bottom corner.
Monterrey saved their best goal until the half, though, as Jesus Corona broke away before incredibly striking into the net from a considerable distance to give his team a healthy three-goal lead before HT.
Both goalkeepers were called into early action in the second half, as Nishikawa saved well from Ricardo Chavez after the defender cut inside, before Danilo Boza’s header was tipped over by Andrada from a corner.
Roberto de la Rosa should have added a fourth for Monterrey in the latter stages, but Nishikawa saved one-on-one after a breakaway.
There was late drama in stoppage time as Thiago Santana did tap home for the Urawa Reds, but it was disallowed for offside, before Berterame slid in to grab his brace.
In the end, Monterrey sailed safely through to the knockouts, while Urawa suffered a fifth successive CWC defeat, crashing out of the competition with a whimper.
Flashscore Man of the Match: German Berterame (Monterrey)
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