Everyone thought it would be so hard, but their (ballplayers) discipline and mastery is incredible, we also learned from them; cohesion was great in a short period of time, I was amazed, because they were capped for Cuba on March 3, Jhonson told Prensa Latina.

In this regard, Jhonson acknowledged that it was a too complicated mission and he had stressful days nights before the tournament, but MLB athletes´ inclusion was a success.

I was impressed how (Roenis) Elías fought, spoke to the team; I was amazed at how well they adapted each other, we have the same Cuban blood running through our veins, it was something very nice and I have the best of opinions about them, he said.

A delicate moment was when he decided Andy Ibáñez to be short stop in semifinals, despite the fact that Yadil Mujica had been pivotal to that position.

Andy was a student of mine as a kid and was crazy about playing, he was in the dogout and supported everything. Mujica took on a great responsibility and it was hard for me to take him out of the lineup, but they both said they would do anything for the team, he revealed.

Something similar happened with outfielder Yoelkis Guibert, who was not going through a good offensive moment and gave the golden hit in the quarterfinals against Australia.

The so-called Team Asere´s results were the best in recent Classics, finishing among the first-four teams, something not reached since 2006.

pll/ro/lp