Action for the 132° Argentine Polo Open Championship, continued on Saturday November 8, with double action, as usual, that saw the debut of La Natividad La Dolfina, the recent winners of the Hurlingham Open and the Tortugas Open, who began their path in the attempt to obtain the Triple Crown. It’s worth to remember that it’s ten years no one has claimed the most coveted polo trophy in the world. The last time was La Dolfina, in 2015, the formidable foursome made of Adolfo Cambiaso, Pelón Stirling, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martín Nero.
La Natividad La Dolfina clashed against La Zeta Kazak, in the day’s opening match. The latter lost to UAE in their debut, in a very close match. There are a couple of interesting details with regards to this match – first, it was played in front of full packed grandsstands, something very unusual on ground 2, and Palermo, and most likely, was only seen back in 2019, when La Natividad played the Argentine Open for the first time. The second is that Adolfo Cambiaso and Pelón Stirling met again at Palermo; however, under different circumstances, meaning not as team mates, but on different lineups – Cambiaso, with La Natividad La Dolfina and Uruguay’s pride, with La Zeta Kazak.
The first chukka saw a 2-0 advantage for La Dolfina, with a late goal by Barto Castagnola, and another produced by Adolfo Cambiaso in the last seconds of play. But things would change from the second chukka onwards, when the contest belonged to La Natividad La Dolfina. Although La Zeta Kazak struggled to stay in the game thanks to the goals by Nico Pieres and Lorenzo Chavanne (with the latter showcasing an extraordinary accuracy to convert penalties), La Natividad La Dolfina were merciless, and La Zeta Kazak’s hopes to at least repeat the good performance against UAE, vanished quickly. With Adolfo Cambiaso as an assistant, leaving the task to score to Poroto, Jeta and Barto, La Natividad La Dolfina dominated the match and the scoreboard easily. After a remarkable fourth chukka, the Cañuelas-based lineup were 12-3 ahead by half time.
The second part was not different at all; La Zeta Kazak were still struggling while La Natividad La Dolfina took total control. By the end of the fifth chukka, the contest was almost said and done, with La Natividad La Dolfina reaching a ten goal advantage (15-5).
La Zeta Kazak made all attempts possible to come closer in the score, but it was an impossible task against a La Natividad La Dolfina forusome in top form. The 40-goal foursome continued their own path. Adolfo Cambiaso sealed the deal in the seventh chukka; a remarkable goal from the world’s greatest player to step into the last chukka with an impressive 21-9 lead. A last chukka that ended tied at 1-all but the damage has already been done; La Natividad La Dolfina’s win was never in danger and at the end of the day, they were victorious 22-11.
The still undefeated UAE and Sol de Agosto met up to play the second match of the day. Both teams were looking for a crucial second consecutive win in order to set their sights on a possible league decider. In addition, it was the clash of the Panelo brothers – UAE’s Tomás and Sol de Agosto’s Benjamin.
Sol de Agosto got off to a better start, with two unanswered goals produced by Paquito de Narvaez and Juan Martin Zubía. However, UAE replied quickly with goals by Tomás Panelo and Polito Pieres (2), to earn a 3-2 lead. But in the last second, Juan Martín Zubía came up, to tie at 3-all. Two hard fought chukkas would follow – although UAE managed to claim a 6-4 advantage in the fourth chukka, two consecutive penalties converted by Benjamin Panelo tied the contest 6-6 by half time.
The second part would be very different. UAE took a 8-6 lead in the fifth chukka, and although Benjamin Panelo closed the gap to one goal, his brother Tomás scored to put UAE two goals up again. And if the fifth chukka was very good, indeed, the sixth would be even better – UAE took off, and outscored Sol de Agosto 3-0. That meant that the former were five goals ahed, 12-7.Goals came from Polito Pieres’ (x2) and Lukin Monteverde’s sticks.
The three last chukkas belonged to UAE; with only one chukka left, they claimed a comfortable six goal advantage (14-8), that left the match almost said and done, unless Sol de Agosto were able to make a suprising comeback. But luck was on UAE’s side – despite Benjamin Panelo converted a 30 yards penalty, Polito Pieres and Juan Martín Nero sealed the second and very significant 16-10 win for UAE.
The 132° Argentine Polo Open Championship will resume on Sunday November 9, with the following order of play:
2pm: La Irenita La Hache vs. La Dolfina II
4,30pm: Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu vs. La Hache Cría & Polo
THE FINAL OF THE 132nd. ARGENTINE POLO OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP IS DUE ON SATURDAY DECEMBER 6.
132nd. ARGENTINE POLO OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP – Teams & Fixture
Cover photo by Matías Callejo/Prensa AAP.