The 5th World Baseball Classic (WBC) raises expectations with the first Korea-Japan match in 14 years. Korea and Japan, who are in Group B of the first round, will face off on March 10 at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. It has been 14 years since the 2nd WBC final in 2009.
Ahead of this WBC, the two countries selected a mixed-race big leaguer to the national team for the first time. Korea included infielder Tommy Edman (28) and Japan outfielder Lars Nuthba (26) in the final 30-man roster. Both players belong to the St. Louis Cardinals, but in the WBC, they meet as enemies in the fateful Korea-Japan match.
The WBC allows players to choose their country of entry based not only on their nationality, but also on their parent’s country and place of birth. In the previous four tournaments, both Korea and Japan formed the national team only with players of their own nationality, but this time they broke the principle of pure blood and opened the door to mixed-race players.
Edmund and Nutba both have Korean mothers. For the sake of his mother’s country, he accepted the request to join the WBC national team of both Korea and Japan. On the 15th and 16th (hereinafter Korean time), the two players shared their feelings about participating in the WBC side by side through interviews with local media in the United States and Japan, including St. Louis local broadcasting ‘KSDK’, and the content was similar.
Edmund said, “It is a great honor to be the first Korean-American player to play for the Korean national team. In the meantime, I haven’t had a chance to come into contact with Korea, my roots in my life. This is your biggest opportunity. So I look forward to more. I will work hard so that Koreans can be proud of me,” he said. “I also started studying Korean. Mothers, grandmothers, older sisters, wives, father-in-law, and mother-in-law all come to the first round (held in Japan). It will be a fun experience for the whole family.”
Nuthba also said, “I am very honored. I don’t think it’s a matter of course. This is unbelievable for our family. The media continues to contact her mother as well. Even my mother wants to enjoy the moment. It’s a special thing for my mother,” he said. “It’s difficult to learn a new language in a month, but I’m studying. When her mother sings the Japanese national anthem at home, she even repeats it. I want to go to Japan and pay homage to Japanese culture. I don’t want to leave a bad impression,” he said.
Edman had already grasped the uniqueness of the Korea-Japan match. He said, “There are many great players in Korea, but there are also many in Japan. 온라인카지노 I am excited to take on a part of the rivalry. I am even more excited to be able to face Japan at Tokyo Dome, a famous baseball stadium in Japan. It will be a great match,” he said. “It would be fun to play against Nutba. They’re close friends, and they’ll curse at each other. Just thinking about it makes me happy and excited.”
Nutba is also waiting for Tokyo Dome. He said, “I saw Tokyo Dome on video. Growing up in Japan, my mother must have been to the Tokyo Dome a few times to watch the games. There are cheering seats for each team, so it feels like European football. Japanese people love baseball every week, so the Japanese game will be heated. It is attractive to be able to play in an atmosphere like the World Series in March,” he said.