Rome.– Cuba and the U.S. will meet in an International Baseball Federation (IBAF) Baseball World Cup final for the second time in a row, Sunday in Nettuno, Italy. The U.S. enters the game at 7-0 (13-1 overall), and Cuba, 5-2 (12-2 overall) in third round play. The USA's only loss was their first game, 13-9 in 11 innings to Venezuela on Sept. 10.

Cuba has lost to Puerto Rico 5-2 on Sept. 18 and to the USA 5-3 on Thursday. The final game will be a rematch of the 2007 IBAF Baseball World Cup, held in Chinese Taipei. The U.S. won that match-up, 6-3, ending Cuba's run of nine-straight World Cup titles.

Although the USA has seen the most recent success in the event, Cuba has historically dominated World Cup play. The current No. 1 in the world, Cuba has won a staggering 25 titles out of the 29 World Cups in which it has competed. Of the 25 wins, three of them have come in World Cups held in Italy (1978, 1988, 1998), and in the four tournaments it has not placed first, it has never finished outside of the top-3.

Team USA –current world No. 4– will make its 12th appearance in a World Cup gold medal game,The USA is looking to take back-to-back titles for only the second time ever, the last time being in 1973-'74. Sunday. The U.S. has won the World Cup three times in 1973, 1974 and 2007.

Overall, this will be the seventh time Cuba and the USA have played for World Cup gold, with Cuba holding a 6-1 lead. The last time two nations met in consecutive World Cup Finals was in 1994 and 1998, with Cuba defeating Korea both times to win the gold. They met for the gold medal twice before in Italy, in both 1978 and 1988.