WC: Group B of Women’s World Cup starts on Wednesday. With the only European team in play
Japanese Miyoshi will host World Cup Group B starting from the following Wednesday. We will also get to see the only European team to take part in the group stages. After winning European Championship in Montpellier in 2022, France will start their journey against Venezuela.
The same as in Group A, we will se six teams. Beside France and Venezuela, we get to see the most successful national team Japan, as well as Cuba, Porto Rico, and Taiwan. Japan remains the favorite to advance to the finals, however, all the teams, except for France, are currently ranked in Top 10 according to WBSC rankings.
World #1 Japan will play on their home turf. Dominant baseball country played all eight editions of World Cup, taking six gold medals. Japanese won’t leave anything to a chance as their roster has names such as legendary Ayami Sato, or the upcoming star Kana Onodera. They also brought five more players from 2018 winning team, namely Ayaka Deguchi, Yuki Kawabata, Miwa Tanaka, Yaya Kojima and Iori Miura.
But they will have a tough competition in #2 Taiwan whom Japan faced and beat in 2018 World Cup finals. Taiwan will have extra motivation to beat their regional rival, as they also finished second behind Japan in Asian WC Qualifier.
Venezuela is currently ranked 5th in the world, making them the best Latin American national team. The team comes to the tournament with a good momentum after winning Americas Qualifier. The core of their team is created from the players from Venezuelan women’s baseball league.
Despite a rich baseball history and the first mentions of women playing baseball in Cuba from 1940s and 1960s, Cuban women’s baseball is relatively young. The team, currently ranked at #7 finished the fourth in American Qualifier and will let the world know what they are made of.
Porto Rico is a relative newcomer in World Cup, playing in only two editions so far. Despite this, the country boasts its own women’s league. Manager Carlos Ferrer also let know that their goal is to get to the World Cup finals, and their focus is mainly on the games against France, Venezuela, and Cuba.
France, as the only European team, will play their first World Cup, despite winning both European Championships. Unfortunately, the tournament they were set to play in Mexican Tijuana was cancelled due to the pandemic. France comes to the tournament with largely unchanged roster and it will be interesting to watch how they compete against the countries with more developed women’s baseball.
Fans can look forward to a tournament which will determine three teams to advance to the finals where they meet USA, Canada, and Mexico. We will know their names on 18th of September at latest.
