Venezuela knows it can help country heal if it can beat USA to win WBC crown
Team Venezuela has already made its deepest World Baseball Classic run, but a championship win against the USA would instill even more national pride.
MIAMI — They have zero interest talking politics. They are quite familiar with the unrest in Venezuela, but sorry, they’re not about to go near the subject. Instead, they are hoping they can help with the healing, and provide a sense of national pride, going where no Venezuelan baseball team has gone before.
Venezuela, for the first time in its history, will play for the World Baseball Classic championship on Tuesday night against the USA at 8 p. m. ET at LoanDepot Park in front of a partisan, sold out crowd after beating Italy, 4-2 , on Monday night.
The ballpark was packed with 35,382 fans, with about 35,000 of them rooting for Venezuela in a Miami-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area where about 250,000 Venezuelans reside. “This is a dream come true for me,’’ Venezuela manager Omar Lopez said. “What could I do to give some joy to my country?
In Venezuela we have over 30 million people that are willing to see Venezuela winning, and I'll find a way to do that together with my people. ’’ Well, on this night, the sellout crowd didn’t want to go home, chanting and cheering as they slowly made their way out of the stadium. The players and Lopez huddled briefly in the clubhouse, cranked the music, and started dancing the night away.
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