World Cup Arc

World Cup Arc
Kanji	W杯編
Rōmanji	W-hai-hen
Manga
Volumes	12
Chapters	118
500. Again 501. Time of Rivals 502. A Sudden Chance 503. You Don't Know Anything 504. The Relationship of The Two 505. A Confession After 10 Years 506. Batting Pitcher 507. Crossing Paths 508. Gathering of Representatives 509. Working Behind The Scenes 510. Kojiro's True Strength 511. Trial And Error 512. Goro vs. Matsuo 513. Goro's Determination 514. A Pioneer's Advice 515. A New Winning Pitch 516. Goro vs. The Japanese Representatives 517. Gyrofork 518. Miscalculations And Discord 519. Clash 520. Offensive Lead 521. A Defiant Pitch 522. An Apathetic Fastball 523. Me Too...!! 524. America Once More 525. Shimizu's Courage 526. An Unexpected Notification 527. The Eleventh Pitcher 528. The True Reason For The Call 529. The Road to The Final Tournament 530. The Second Round Begins 531. The First Inning's Offense And Defense 532. Silva's Strenght 533. Pressure And True Worth 534. Declining Flow 535. Assigned Duty 536. Sharpened Fangs 537. The Game's Direction 538. Trump Card 539. An Innocent Hit 540. The Price of Carelessness 541. Dissonance 542. The Guardian's Seat 543. A Glimpse of That Dream 544. You're Not a Man!! 545. Entrusted Feelings 546. Unforeseen Circumstances 547. Prelude to The Decisive Game 548. The Pitfall of The Rules 549. Attack And Defense in The Early Stages 550. The Game Starts to Move 551. Late Rookie 552. Curse 553. Calmness 554. Connected Thoughts 555. Thoughtful Blow 556. After a Fierce Battle 557. Your Identity Is 558. Hidden Past 559. I'm Fine! 560. Brother! 561. Celebrating The Determination 562. Big Brother's Job 563. Mysterious Southpaw 564. Amateur's Will 565. Aggressive Baseball 566. Breakthrough 567. Even if You Can't See Me 568. Final Battle 569. Engine of Feelings 570. As a Son 571. For Redemption 572. A Hole in The Chest 573. An Ideal Goal 574. Each One's Resolution 575. Retirement Match 576. What To Do 577. American Pride 578. A Thirteen-Year-Long Showdown 579. Gibson Falls 580. It's Enough 581. Each One's Morning 582. Brothers in Arms 583. The Origin of Mayumura 584. First Chance 585. The Mayumura Incident 586. Kaido's Limits 587. With Pride in My Chest 588. One-sided Game 589. Absent Pillar 590. Silent Cry 591. A Dream at The Stadium 592. Hard Work 593. Bad Flow 594. Anxious!? 595. One-point Offense and Defense 596. Here We Come 597. Burns VS. Goro 598. Each One's Evolution 599. Humiliation As a Springboard 600. The Opportunity That Slipped Through 601. Settled!? 602. The Ball's Whereabouts 603. Ever Since That Day 604. Stigma of Giving Up 605. Best Effort 606. For Myself 607. A Settlement Without Regrets 608. A Chance to Win 609. Last-minute Offense and Defense 610. Let Me Win 611. The Last Confrontation 612. It's Not Over 613. Father's Back 614. After a Deadly Struggle 615. Cruel Ending 616. Father and Son 617. Farewell With a Smile
Anime
Episodes
Number of Episodes	25
Ep105: Once More Ep106: The Warm Gap Between Them Ep107: Representatives Assembled! Ep108: Trial and Error Ep109: Young Japan Ep110: Selfless Fastball Ep111: An Unexpected Notification Ep112: Their Respective Expectations Ep113: Pressure and Worthiness Ep114: Polished Fangs Ep115: You're No Man!! Ep116: Curse Ep117: Japanese Baseball Ep118: I'm All Right! Ep119: Aggressive Baseball Ep120: Things We Prepare For Ep121: American Pride Ep122: To the Promised Land Ep123: Pitching Basics Ep124: Pride Held on Your Chest Ep125: For Oneself's Sake Ep126: The Neverending Dream Ep127: Father's Back Ep128: End of the Struggle Ep129: The Road to Tomorrow

The World Cup Arc is the seventh story arc of the MAJOR series. This arc is centered around the Baseball World Cup that takes place by the time Goro Shigeno returns to Japan on vacation after winning the Triple A Minor League with the Memphis Bats and being promoted to the Major League team, the Indiana Hornets. This arc focuses on Goro's rivalry with Joe Gibson Jr. and shows the fateful confrontation between Goro and Joe Gibson on the World Cup Finals.

Summary

As Goro Shigeno returns returns to Japan after being promoted to the Major League, he finds out the Baseball World Cup is about to begin. However, before he can join the Japanese team, his childhood friend Kaoru Shimizu confesses to him, turning his life around. After setting his head straight, Goro admits his feelings for Shimizu and the two start dating. Goro tries to join the Japanese team by working as a pitching trainer for the batters. At the Japanese training camp, he meets Suguro, an older pitcher. Suguro teaches Goro how to pitch forkballs. Despite learning a new pitch, Goro to join the Japanese team. After Ken Mayumura and Toshiya Sato are called to join the Japanese roster, Goro returns to the United States with Shimizu. After some time in the U.S. playing in exhibition matches for the Indiana Hornets, a Major League team, Goro is also called to join the Japanese roster. It is revealed that the Japanese team got through the qualifying rounds, but they decided to call up Goro as a reserve pitcher, just in case they need one. After joining the team, the Japanese proceed to get through both the Group Stage and the semifinal rounds. After reaching the final round, Goro faces his rival Joe Gibson Jr. and his father Joe Gibson, Goro's baseball role model. After losing the World Cup to Gibson's U.S.A. team, Goro returns to the Indiana Hornets to play in the Major League season.

Manga and Anime Differences

Several scenes and plot points were extended in the anime adaptation:

• The match between Young Japan and the Japanese representatives was considerably longer in the anime adaptation.
• Sawamura's plot of giving up on soccer was brought up very briefly in his conversation with Komori in the manga. In the adaptation, this plot point is extended and a real resolution is given, as in the manga, the plot is left unresolved and is never touched upon again.
• Similar to the one above, Shingo's storyline of giving up on baseball is also extended in the anime.
• Goro's process of learning the forkball is also longer than in the manga.
• The anime also shows the first match of Group A, between U.S.A and Canada. This match happens in the manga but isn't shown.
• Gibson's heart failure storyline is also more detailed in the anime adaptation.
• At the end of the arc, in the anime, Goro returns to Japan and meets his old friends again, who help him regain his strength to keep playing. In the manga, this never happens, as Goro immediately heads back to Indianapolis to join the Hornets pre-season.

Matches

• Young Japan vs. Japan Representatives (results unknown) - Ch. 515-522.
• Baseball World Cup - Group Stage: U.S.A 3 - 2 Canada - Episode 112 (anime only).
• Baseball World Cup - Group Stage: Japan 8 - 7 Venezuela - Ch. 530-541.
• Baseball World Cup - Group Stage: Japan 1 - 0 South Korea - Ch. 542-546.
• Baseball World Cup - Group Stage: Venezuela 2 - 0 Dominican Republic - Ch. 547.
• Baseball World Cup - Group Stage: Venezuela 6 - 0 South Korea - Ch. 548.
• Baseball World Cup - Group Stage: Japan 6 - 4 Dominican Republic - Ch. 548-556.
• Baseball World Cup - Group Stage: U.S.A 4 - 3 Cuba - Ch. 557.
• Baseball World Cup - Semifinals: Japan 2 - 1 Cuba - Ch. 563-570.
• Baseball World Cup - Semifinals: U.S.A. 6 - 2 Venezuela - Ch. 571-577.
• Baseball World Cup - Final: Japan 6 - 10 U.S.A - Ch. 584-615.

Important Events

• Goro Shigeno returns to Japan and starts dating Kaoru Shimizu.
• The Japanese starts building their team for the World Cup. Ken Mayumura is invited to the roster.
• Goro and Toshiya Sato play an exhibition match against the Japanese roster in order to show their skills to the Japanese coaching team.
• Toshiya joins the roster, but Goro doesn't.
• Goro returns to the United States with Shimizu.
• The World Cup begins and the Japanese team passes the qualifying rounds.
• As the Group Stage of the World Cup is about to start, Goro is called up to integrate the Japanese roster.
• The Japanese team defeats Venezuela, South Korea and the Dominican Republic in the Group Stage, progressing to the semifinals.
• The Japanese team defeats Cuba in the semifinals, while the American team defeats Venezuela.
• The Japanese team loses to the American team in the Baseball World Cup finals.
• Shimizu returns to Japan and Goro flies to Indianapolis to join the Indiana Hornets.