CUBA, February 19, 2009. Cuba's national baseball team will play five training games- three of them open to the public- in the Mexican states of Puebla and Veracruz, before the beginning of the 2nd World Baseball Classic. Cuba is in Pool B of the qualifying stage of the World Classic, playing at the Foro Sol Stadium in Mexico's DF, along with Australia, South Africa and the host country. Cuban weekly Jit publishes today that the Mexican teams to play against Cuba in these training games are the Águilas de Veracruz and Pericos de Puebla, both with outstanding performances in the Mexican Professional league, reaching first places in some seasons. The Cuban team will face Las Aguilas next Wednesday 25th at the Beto Avila University Stadium, while the other four games will be against the Pericos team, on the 27th, March 1st, 3rd and 5th, at the "Hermanos Senday" Stadium. Every match will start at 7 PM, and the ones on the 27th and March 3rd will behind closed doors, as per agreement with the organizers. The 28 members of the Cuban team, with their manager Higinio Velez will leave this Friday for Puebla, where they will start their acclimatization to the high altitude conditions (2,240 meters over sea level) that they will face in the first stage of the tournament. The opening game of the 2nd World Baseball Classic will be on March 5th in the Tokyo Dome in Japan, while Cuba will make its debut on the 8th in the Foro Sol Stadium. Japan, South Korea, China Taipei and China will play in Pool A in Tokyo, while Canada, US, Venezuela and Italy will be in Pool C in Toronto and in Pool D are Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Holland and Panama, in San Juan. (Cubaminrex- ACN) |