updated 9:23 p.m. ET July 11, 2005

DEARBORN, Mich. - The United States will be grouped with Mexico, Canada and South Africa next year in the first round of baseball’s first World Cup-style tournament.

The 16-nation, 18-day event, called the World Baseball Classic, opens March 3 in Tokyo or Taiwan, where Group A will include Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China.

The United States will be in Group B, which starts play March 8 along with the other groups and will be based in the United States.

Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama and the Netherlands are in Group C, which will be in Latin America, and the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Australia and Italy are in Group D, which will be based in Florida.

Major League Baseball has spent more than a decade discussing the tournament and hopes the event will gain in prestige, such as soccer’s World Cup. The International Olympic Committee voted Friday to kick baseball out of the Olympics following the 2008 Beijing Games. IOC president Jacques Rogge cited baseball’s refusal to allow players on 40-man major league rosters to participate and the sport’s drug-testing rules, which do not meet the World Anti-Doping Agency’s standards.

“I don’t know if frankly I consider it a blow,” baseball commissioner Bud Selig said. “I’m sorry they made the decision, but we’re moving on in a very dramatic way to internationalize this sport.”

While Nippon Professional Baseball has agreed to participate, the Japanese players’ association has not yet given its approval and has objected to having the tournament during spring training. It also is unclear whether Cuba, which might fear defections, will accept its invitation.

Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players’ association, said the obstacles could be overcome.

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“Cubans compete and play against Americans all the time,” he said.

Several players who agreed to participate attended a news conference on the day prior to the All-Star game: Miguel Tejada (Dominican Republic), Carlos Beltran (Puerto Rico) Andruw Jones (Netherlands), Dontrelle Willis (United States), Jason Bay (Canada), Carlos Lee (Panama), Hee-Seop Choi (South Korea) and Justin Huber (Australia).

“I just hope I make the team,” Willis said.

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Tejada said fans back home would look forward to the event, which baseball hopes will be played a second time in 2009.

“They’re going to be really excited to see all the players on one team,” he said.

Lee was happy just to get a chance.

“Panama getting invited to this kind of tournament, that’s a big accomplishment for us,” he said.

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