The team managed by Alexander Urquiola has worked for several weeks at Capitán San Luis Stadium in Pinar del Río, where the coaching staff claims to have completed intense preparation aimed at balancing the different areas of the game and achieving the greatest possible cohesion before the event.

The strategist himself has acknowledged, however, that reality forces the tournament to be viewed with caution, since these young players have had no other means of gaining experience due to the absence of a national championship in the category, a circumstance that limits their chances of regularly facing real competitive situations.

Therein lies one of the main question marks surrounding this national team, because training makes it possible to perfect movements, correct mistakes, and strengthen concepts, but no exercise fully reproduces the pressure of an official game, a turn at bat with runners on base, the responsibility of protecting a lead, or the obligation to respond after making an error.

The problem takes on greater dimensions when the opponents will be national teams whose development processes include a considerable competitive workload, meaning Cuba will arrive in Mexico with accumulated training hours, but with fewer game miles on its legs than several of its rivals.

And the setting does not offer much room to gain momentum either, since the Cuban squad has been placed in a demanding group alongside world champion Japan, as well as Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Germany, and South Africa, and it will have to finish among the top three to advance to the Super Round.

The opening round will be played at Kukulcán Stadium in Mérida, where Cuba will debut on September 25 against the Dominican Republic, while Cancún will host the other group and later the placement round, whereas Mérida will be the venue for the Super Round and the medal games through October 4.

Urquiola has found balance in pitching, hitting, and defense, as well as a group of young players with potential, but he himself admits that talent must be accompanied by competitive experience, precisely the element that has been most lacking on the road to this World Cup.

That is why it is difficult to predict how far Cuba can go, because beyond the grit, pride, and the well-known ability of Cuban players of these ages to compete, it remains to be seen how they will respond when pressure, mistakes, close scores, and decisions that only an official game can impose come into play.

That does not mean Cuba arrives without arguments, since the lower categories have shown that baseball on the Island still has a talent pool capable of defying predictions even when circumstances do not seem to favor it, and that mix of talent, savvy, and competitive pride remains a card that no one should discard.

History, moreover, weighs on these young players, but it also accompanies them: before the current stage, Cuba won four titles in the 15 editions of the former U-16 World Championship, and since the creation of the U-15 World Cup under the new international structure, it has added two crowns and two silver medals in its first six editions, in addition to reaching the final in 2022.

That past explains the hope, but it does not allow the present to be hidden, because this time Cuban baseball will have to compensate with accelerated learning for what it could not accumulate in a national championship, and in Mexico every pitch, every at-bat, and every decision will test how much a team can grow when training is no longer enough.

Cuba will travel with its history, its talent, and that old habit of fighting until the last out, but the World Cup will demand something more: turning the lack of games into competitive hunger, because in international baseball the uniform can open the door, but only performance allows you to walk through it.