Five teams made it clear that they are in the Okinawa Prefecture in Japan to win the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2025 presented by RAXUS during the pre-tournament at Loisir Hotel on Thursday.
“We are the defending World Champions,” said World No. 1 Japan’s manager Masayoshi Ogura. “I would love to win another one.”
He added, “I’m very proud of Japanese High School Baseball, of its sportsmanship. My goal is also to show the world its level and its values.”
Rick Eckstein added that World No. 3 USA “came here to win.” He said that to achieve the goal, his players need to perform “after their capability.”
Soo Chul Sok was straight forward about No. 4 Korea: “We have finished second and third lately. It’s time to aim for first place.”
Hung-Yuan Liao leads No, 2 Chinese Taipei and has a goal: “We want to take this trophy back home.”
“We feel the responsibility of being the programme with the most wins,” said Abeicy Pantoja, No. 12 Cuba’s skipper, “and it’s been some time since we made it to the final. We want to try to win it all.”
No. 9 Panama is aiming for a medal. “This is what we target,” said manager Carlos Maldonado. “But the real goal is to have our players enjoy competing at this level and showcase what baseball has become in Panama.”
“There’s always high expectations when you represent Puerto Rico,” said Eddie Rodriguez, the skipper of the No. 9 programme in the world. “We are also aware of the level of the competition.”
“We will take it one day at a time,” added Jason Pospishil, No. 10 Australia’s manager. “The goal is competing as hard as we can and controlling our own destiny.”
No. 14 Italy’s Guglielmo Trinci said that he wants his players to witness the next level of baseball.
“We will face world powers, and we have a young team. But I want my players to give all they have on the field.”
Dean McKinnon believes that No. 26 South Africa has a chance to demonstrate how much they improved.
“Of course, we also hope we can win a few games.”
No. 19 China’s Guojun Lai has a more precise target. “We hope we can make it to third place in our group and advance to the Super Round. Still, our main target is the U-18 Baseball World Cup 2027, which we will host in China.”
“I coach ambitious and baseball-loving guys,” said Georg Bull, No. 19 Germany’s skipper. “They want to find out where we stand in the world of baseball’s big guys. I’ve never been in a U-18 Baseball World Cup, so I’m really curious about how we will do.”
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