Guards Polo Club Official Yearbook 2017 Official Yearbook 2017 | Page 137

tournament report
R
ashid Albwardy’s Dubai team
came into this final as favourites
– with five Queen’s Cup wins
already under their belts – and key player,
Adolfo Cambiaso, holding the record for
the most wins (eight). So, it was not a
huge surprise that Dubai started strongly
and thanks to some accurate penalty
taking off the sticks of Cambiaso and Juan
Martin Nero, Dubai were 9-4 up against
La Indiana at half-time.
This was a disappointing start for La
Indiana as Michael Bickford’s boys had
produced such exciting, four-man polo
in their semi-final victory over King
Power Foxes earlier in the week. Too
many penalties in the first half of this
final – 17 in the first three chukkas alone
– were not what the 6,000-strong crowd
had come to see.
Maybe La Indiana could sense the
crowd’s disappointment as they rode out
rejuvenated and inspired in the second
half. The crowd was now treated to a game
of flowing polo and few umpires’ whistles.
Such was the transformation in the fourth
chukka that La Indiana scored four goals –
off the sticks of Agustin Merlos (two), Nic
Roldan and Julian de Lusarreta – to none
in reply from Dubai. Now only a goal now
separated these teams (9-8 to Dubai) at
the end of the fourth.
Thanks to a couple of goals from Nero
and Cambiaso in the fifth, to only one in
reply from Roldan – although this was
a ball he picked up when clearing a shot
from Cambiaso – Dubai kept a slim, 11-9
lead going into the final chukka. It was La
Indiana who kicked things off in the sixth,
thanks to an on-target shot from Merlos.
Meanwhile, teammate, de Lusarreta,
scored what must have been the goal of
the tournament to take La Indiana level.
Incredibly, this game looked like it was
heading into extra time.
Then, a melee in the La Indiana goal
eventually resulted in a penalty for Dubai,
which Cambiaso tapped through to
Laurent Feniou and Sienna Miller
guards polo club official yearbook 2017
137