14ymedio/Swing Completo, Havana, 28 October 2024 — Island baseball continues to add disappointments. Curaçao beat Cuba 2-1 this Sunday at the Andre Rogers stadium, in Nassau, capital of the Bahamas, and thus took away the possibility of competing for the gold medal in the Caribbean Cup. “Without a doubt, it is another major failure in the international arena,” published the specialized media Pelota Cubana USA.
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The same publication detailed that despite the fact that the selection, led by Alexander Urquiola, was made up of several young figures, “many with inexperience in Cuban teams, it was not a tournament to be left out of the title discussion.”
The defeat against Curaçao shows that the sport, once king on the Island, “requires work, resources and above all respect,” warns Por la Goma in its Facebook post. “We should have removed the blindfold a long time ago,” emphasizes journalist JuanK.
The same publication specified that while the Provincial Series are suspended in Cuba, there is a lack of balls for practice from the lower levels, and they stopped “two months ago paying the players their salary of 3,500 pesos.” In Curaçao “they play baseball all year round,” and they have a professional league and lower categories.
In addition, the author urges, we must stop thinking that the rival teams “do not have the same history” as the Island: “We must understand that history is not lived, and that while we are analyzing how to create a National Series, all the other countries are preparing and inserting themselves more every day into the world elite.”
The official media Jit pointed out that two “failures” – the games lost against the Virgin Islands and Curaçao – led the national team to the match against the Dominican Republic for the bronze medal.
The defeat against Curaçao was taken by José Ignacio Bermúdez after allowing two runs and scoring four opponents. For his part, Randy Martínez, from Pinar del Río, got outs without allowing hits, one of them thanks to a strikeout. The hope for Cuba in the Bahamas is the bronze medal.
As for the U-12 team, this Sunday they defeated Panama 5-1 in a match played at the Rod Carew stadium and got a third place in the Pan American Championship.
Prensa Latina highlighted the offensive actions of Humberto Alfonso and Alan López, both with a couple of trailers, and Alex Batista. Also, Barrero hit a single and double, and victory was credited from the mound.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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