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XVII Men's Softball World Cup 2022 - Official Payoff

Men’s Softball World Cup Press Conference: Team Profiles and Quotes

Men’s Softball World Cup Press Conference: Team Profiles and Quotes
25/11/2022
The press conference for the WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup 2022 took place on Friday, on the eve of Saturday's start to the tournament. Here's a rundown of each team and quotes from their head coaches, starting with Japan, who is aiming to go one step better than their silver medal finish in the last edition in 2019.

World No. 2 Japan is looking to overcome the disappointment of three years ago when, after proceeding through the Men’s Softball World Cup 2019 winning all nine games through to the final, they lost the World Championship game to Argentina 3-2.

“After the disappointing defeat in the Prague final where we finished in second place, everyone was crying,” Japan head coach Hiroshi Yoshimura said in the WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup 2022 press conference. “It was a heart breaking loss for everyone. Since then, we’ve been working to win, so we’re going to do our best to lift the cup this time.”

Having participated in all previous editions of the Men’s Softball World Cup, Japan has recorded two silver medals (2019 and 2000) and a bronze medal in 1996 and is looking forward to adding a third colour to the collection.

“We made the selection in July, and then we competed at the Asian Championship,” Yoshimura added. “It was a step-by-step process. The last World Cup was three years ago, and team has been waiting for this event since then.”

See WBSC Men's Softball World Cup history here
See Team Rosters inside the Men’s Softball World Cup Daily Report Day 0

Team Profile - Japan (Group B)

Head Coach – Hiroshi Yoshimura (JPN) Turned 46 on 14th November.
Led Japan to the World Championship in the 2016 Jr. Men’s Softball World Championship. As an Assistant coach, he helped Japan earn fifth place in the 2017 World Cup Intercontinental Cup.

2019 Result: 2nd World Ranking: 2nd Editions Played: 16 Best Finish: 2nd (2 times – last time in 2019) Total Medals: 3 (2 silver, 1 bronze)

Team Profile - Argentina (Group A)

Head Coach - Julio Gamarci (ARG) Turned 49 last month.
Played catcher in three editions as a player (1992 – 6th, 2004 – 8th in New Zealand, 2009 – 7th). Was captain for 2004 and 2009 editions. Became Argentina junior coach in 2010 and won the U-19 Men's Softball World Cup 2012 on home soil and junior world title in 2014. Became senior coach in 2015.

Defending champions

World Ranking: 1
Editions Played: 10
Best Finish: 1st (2019)
Total Medals 1 (gold in 2019)

For quotes from Gamarci see his interview on the Global Game podcast.

Team Profile - Cuba (Group A)

Head Coach – Leonardo Cárdenas (CUB) Aged 57.
A WBSC Softball Hall of Fame member, Cárdenas played a key role in Cuba’s two previous participations in the World Cup in 2019 and 1988. As player, he was captain of the Cuban National Team for 20 years, helping Cuba finish in the fourth place in the 1988 World Cup, when the Caribbean nation made their historic debut. He was the head coach of the Cuban team in the 2019, leading the team to a 10th-place finish.

2019 Result: 10th
World Ranking: 12th
Editions Played: 2
Best Finish: 4th (1988)
Total Medals: -

Leonardo Cardenas quotes:

“We have been preparing for two and a half months, we’ve been training as a team. We usually make a pre-selection and then we select the final roster. But this time we couldn’t, because of the delayed visa process. We’ve been playing intra-squad games, because we couldn’t have any international competition.”

“Our first goal is to qualify for the Super Round, to be among the top three in the group. And then to fight to reach the podium. With this new format, it’s a bit more difficult because you cannot make any mistake.”

Team Profile - Czech Republic (Group A)

Head Coach – Jaroslav Korcak (CZE) Aged 35.
Youngest coach of the tournament, Korcak was an assistant coach with the U-18 Czech team that won the country’s first-ever World Cup medal in 2020 (bronze), in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

2019 Result: 8th
World Ranking: 5th
Editions Played: 9
Best Finish: 6th (2000)
Total Medals: -

Team Profile - New Zealand (Group A)

Head Coach – Mark Sorenson (NZL) Turned 55 last month.
Won three World Championship titles as skipper of the Black Sox in 1996, 2000 and 2004 as well as one as coach in 2017. A fourth place in 2019 was the first time in 39 years that the Black Sox finished off the podium.

2019 Result: 4th
World Ranking: 6th
Editions Played: 16
Best Finish: 1st (7 times – last time in 2017)
Total Medals: 13 (7 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze)

For quotes from Sorenson see his interview on the Global Game podcast

Team Profile - Philippines (Group A)

Head Coach – Jasper Cabrera (PHI) 46.
Former national team player Carera took over the role as head coach earlier this year after Apol Rosales left for personal reasons. Has previously coached Indonesia.

2019 Result: 16th
World Ranking: 21st
Editions Played: 10
Best Finish: 4th (1968)
Total Medals: -

Jasper Cabrera quotes:

“Our team and our national federation president are very happy to qualify in this event. Now we have nine rookies, so this World Cup is important for them to gain experience and exposure. We need them to build up because are in a very tough group, with former world champions and teams in the Top 10. Our target is to give our rookies exposure, get a win and go for the Super Round."

“Just like in our previous World Cups, our weapon has always been our speed."

“I started playing in 1997 and played in five World Championships, including South Africa, Christchurch and Saskatoon, and I have been in New Zealand three times. I was lucky to have experienced world softball as a player. Each year, the level of the teams improved, so we always strategise and adapt speed to the style of our game just like the Japanese team. The experience now is different and special because before we just played without having an idea on what to adjust in the next plays, and now scouting plays a big part in the game. I became a player coach in 2018 and this year I am the head coach.”

About first game v USA

“In 2019, we always remind our boys that we played a close game against USA and only gave up in the late innings. But now we are lucky to be able to scout them on YouTube and work on improving our weaknesses. So we try our best to watch those recap videos."

Team Profile - USA (Group A)

Head Coach – Ronald Hackett (USA) Turned 50 last month.
Hackett took over the Men’s National Team Program in fall of 2019. Having served as an Assistant Coach for the Men’s National Team during the 2019 season, Hackett helped guide the U.S. to a fifth-place finish at the 2019 WBSC Men's World Championship.

2019 Result: 5th
World Ranking: 7th
Editions Played: 16
Best Finish: 1st (5 times – last time in 1988)
Total Medals: 9 (5 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze)

Ronald Hackett quotes:

“For us we are a little bit behind everybody, with everybody else coming to the tournament a week before. We arrived on Monday and got right to it on Monday afternoon. And then we’ve had scrimmages with Japan, Canada and Argentina. We felt our priority is to test ourselves and get us in deep water. Today we just came from practice and the guys got their timing where they need to be. Our pitching is getting better than we thought coming in. We are happy with where we are right now.”

“In 2019 we had a great team and finished fifth and the expectation is to get on the medal stand this time. I think we have improved in some areas and we have been fortunate to get these folks into the programme and working them into that. The expectations are higher than they were, anything below a medal is disappointing, but we will play hard no matter what.”

“We’ve got one held over from 2013 in Matt Palazzo, who led the tournament in 2013. He’s a real veteran for us. We are looking for him to kind of steady the course, then Nick Mullins who is another one of our captains and our short stop Cam Schiller. We’ve got some talented young guys like Eric Ochoa, Blain Milheim, Zach Shaw and Jonathan Lynch, so we are looking forward to our first group of players to make an impact. If they do, that will take us a long way.”

About first game v Philippines

“We saw them (Philippines) play in the Czech Republic. They are four years older and they look to their lefty pitcher to be their ace again. We watched the Asia Cup qualifier where they played Japan. Although you really can’t tell much about that because that game was played in almost a monsoon. They lost 7-0, but that video and the WBSC videos are really all we have. We will take them seriously as any other team here. They obviously earned their way here in this tough competition and we will treat them as such.”

Team Profile - Australia (Group B)

Head Coach – Laing Harrow (AUS) Aged 52.
Coached the women’s national team to fifth place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Harrow played in three Men’s Softball World Cups (1988 (7th), 1992 (5th) and as captain in 1996 (7th)). He’s a member of the WBSC Softball Hall of Fame.

2019 Result: 7th
World Ranking: 4th
Editions Played: 10
Best Finish: 1st (2009)
Total Medals: 4 (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)

Laing Harrow quotes:

About coaching the Australian Women's Softball Team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games:

“It’s fortunate. It’s a great honour to have that opportunity to be at the Olympics, with the Aussie spirit, then get the chance to come back to the Steelers programme and come here to Auckland for the World Cup. It’s exciting and it’s been a lot of fun so far.”

“For the Steelers we have not done anything as a group since the 2019 World Championships. That’s why we jumped at the chance to go to Palmerston North and be part of the top six countries and be involved in that tournament. We felt we need to expose ourselves to that level again. So the guys have been working hard in the lead up to the tournament. And in their respective states, it’s not always easy because there are the winter conditions and we had some guys play in the ISC. Now they have worked hard in their fitness programmes and kept a good reason to be in good shape, and have played in tournaments in Australia.”

About the International Invitational Tournament in Palmerston North:

“We had a bit of success there. These guys coming together and have not really played too much, the culture within them and what they are creating have been positive and has a good reflection on the field. It’s nice to see them get rewarded for their level of play.”

About the tournament preparation:

“Consistency is one, but also to raise the level of play. The invitationals are done and past, we have to reset, and we have to show up every day to play. We cannot afford to take a day off in the early rounds because that could affect our medal chance.”

About the first game v Denmark:

“Get a W on the board first up. We have to stick to our process. The coaching staff have done a lot of work from the scouting side of it and it’s a matter of putting it all together. We haven’t seen a lot of Denmark but we know they could hit the ball and make things happen, so we just have to show up and be ready to play.”

Team Profile - Canada (Group B)

Head Coach – John Stuart (CAN) Aged 57.
Stuart is Canada’s head coach since 2014. This will be his fourth World Cup campaign, winning a medal in his three previous campaigns. He led Canada to the world title in 2015, as the host team in Saskatoon; and then claimed back to back bronze medal in 2017 and 2019.

2019 Result: 3rd
World Ranking: 3rd
Editions Played: 16
Best Finish: 1st (4 times – last time in 2015)
Total Medals: 13 (4 gold, 5 silver, 4 bronze)

John Stuart quotes:

Tournament preparation:

“We’re a bit out of season, we play in Canada until August, so that’s always a challenge for us. Our preparation started the first week of September as a team, a lot of communication via Zoom, phone calls, and training program just making sure the guys are prepared.”

“It was great to have five, six games against the top countries in the world in Palmerston North. And our goal there was not necessarily winning - we want to win every game - but we wanted to get everybody a chance to play and see where everyone is at. So for us, that was huge.”

Goals for the tournament:

“We always come with three goals. Our first goal is to qualify for the Super Round, second is to medal, and our final and most important goal is to win the gold medal. So basically we have these three goals, and we go step by step.”

Team Profile - Denmark (Group B)

Head Coach – Craig Wallace (NZL) Aged 44.
Former New Zealand Black Sox player.

2019 Result: 9th
World Ranking: 10th
Editions Played: 7
Best Finish: 9th (2019)
Total Medals: -

Team Profile - South Africa (Group B)

Head Coach – Eric Raphasha (RSA) Aged 53.
Raphasha played in the 2004 World Cup in New Zealand, when South Africa finished in 12th position. As head coach, he led his national team to the African Championship earlier this year, beating Botswana to claim a berth in the 2022 World Cup.

2019 Result: 12th
World Ranking: 11th
Editions Played: 10
Best Finish: 7th (1976 in Lower Hutt)
Total Medals: -

Eric Raphasha quotes

“We’re well prepared for the tournament. Our players come from different provinces in the country and we selected a good team. We beat Bortswana in the African Qualifiers, so now we represent Africa as a whole. The players are ready, they are committed to compete.”

“Our goal is to compete with the best. The last time (2019) we finished in the 12th place, so this time we want to improve this position.”

Team Profile - Venezuela (Group B)

Head Coach – Luis Russo (VEN) Aged 62.
Oldest coach of the tournament. Russo was head coach of the Venezuelan team in the 2017 World Cup, helping his team to a seventh-place finish. He was then an assistant coach of the 2019 squad that finished in 6th place.

2019 Result: 6th
World Ranking: 9th
Editions Played: 9
Best Finish: 2nd (2013 in New Zealand)
Total Medals: 2 (1 silver, 1 bronze)

Luis Russo quotes

“We had a short period of preparation, like a month, so we didn’t have so many time to work with the team. We added three new players from the Pan American Championship, including Erick Urbaneja, who brings a lot of experience.”

“Our goal, the same as all the teams that are here, is to win the title. Then, let’s see what happens, but we’re here to win the championship. Every team here is ready, we all want to win.”