The national delegation will embark on a flight to New Zealand tonight. A stopover will be made in Dallas to resume the journey to Oakland, where they will arrive Thursday morning. The world champion-elect will go on a tour before defending the crown. In this regard, they will play friendly matches against New Zealand teams next weekend. Then they will play exhibition games. In turn, it will be part of a mini World Cup alongside Japan, New Zealand, Canada and the Czech Republic.
“The expectations are to fight for a medal. We want to be on stage. These are very tough questions, winning a gold medal is not easy, but we have the team. We know that doing our job makes it harder for them to beat us. That is why we must focus on it to bring about the best result,” Mariano Montero noted in a statement to La Red Paraná.
Argentina Softball Team Parana 3.jpg
Photo by UNO/Juan Ignacio Pereira
Montero confirmed that New Zealand will be his farewell in a religious event. “I am 37 years old and the next one will be in four years. I am taking it as my last World Cup and I am thoroughly enjoying it,” he said.
Federico Eder, for his part, aims to play the deciding match of the World Cup. “The first target is to qualify in the top three. Then, due to the competitive system, there is no other option but to advance to the finals”, he wished.
Argentina Softball Team Paraná.jpg
Photo by UNO/Juan Ignacio Pereira
Eder insisted that carrying the title defenders’ poster did not weigh them down. “We are preparing for this. We have to show that it is not there by chance. The chosen others will come out to play to die. We will be the contenders to beat. We are ready for that,” he said.
“There are always strong teams in this tournament. New Zealand is the locale, Japan, Canada. They are always fighting teams. We will show that we will win everything because we are the last champions,” Eder concluded.
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