Tourneys NEWS

Team USA Will Be The Group Favorite At 2009 IBAF Baseball World Cup

Published by admin on January 4, 2009

GERMANY - The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) has released the game schedule for the preliminary round of the 2009 Baseball World Cup in Regensburg, Germany. The tournament will open on September 9th with the host nation Germany pitted against China.

Team USA will begin their campaign the following night against South American baseball heavyweight Venezuela. A pair of games are scheduled for both September 11th and 12th.

The Americans, who captured the gold medal at the 2007 World Championship for the third time (1973 and 1974), will open the tourney as the group favorite.

Contrary to past competitions elite players with Major League experience will again participate in international competitions. Altogether, the Americans have won 14 medals at the World Cups.

Venezuela is likely to be a tough opponent as well. The South Americans experienced ‘golden times’ in the 1940s when they won three gold medals (1941, 1944, 1945).

The least experienced of the scheduled opponents for the German national team is likely to be China, who was last present at the World Cup in 2003 and 2005, where they finished in 13th and 11th place, respectively.

Squads will need at least one win to have any chance of advancing to the next round. The teams in each group finishing first and second place, as well as four of the best third place teams, qualify for the second round which takes place in Italy and the Netherlands.

Preliminary Round Schedule:

September 9th
Germany vs China

September 10th
USA vs Venezuela

September 11th
Venezuela vs China
USA vs Germany

September 12th
China vs USA
Germany vs Venezuela

Photo courtesy of the IBAF

Source: Confederation of European Baseball (CEB)

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