U-18 Men's Softball World Cup live blog - World Championship Final: Mexico vs Japan, For the Title of World Champion

Host Mexico and Japan will meet today, at 5 p.m. local time, with the WBSC U-18 Men's Softball World Cup World Championship title at stake. This is the first-ever final for Mexico, while their rivals today have played the final game seven times, winning the title three times.

Both teams met last night, in the final game of the Super Round, with the Asians winning the game, 7-4. This win sent Japan to the World Championship Final. Mexico qualified for the decisive match two games in advance.

Japan, the defending World Champions, will play their eighth final in the history of the event. They won it three times - 1981, 2016 and 2020 - and collected the silver medal in 2001, 2005, 2012 and 2018. They have also own four bronze medals totalling 11, the most for any national team programme in the world.

For Mexico this will be their first-ever final. They earned the bronze medal in the first edition of this event in 1981. This will be their second final in Men's Softball World Cups, since they lost the World Championship Game of the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup 1966, the only previous Men's Softball World Cup hosted by Mexico.

You can follow the play by play here.