Wins for La Indiana and Dubai
La Indiana 13 – 10 La Bamba De Areco at Cowdray Park
A fast paced game at Cowdray Park in Sussex saw Michael Bickford’s La Indiana register their first Cartier Queen’s Cup victory. They led Jean Francois Decaux’s La Bamba de Areco from the first chukka (3-0) and never relinquished this lead. At the end of the second La Indiana were already 7-2 ahead, thanks to some superb play from Nic Roldan and Agustin Merlos. That said La Bamba de Areco put up a good fight, especially in the latter stages of this match and the score does not reflect the standard of the game. Unfortunately some strong play from Christian Laprida failed to convert into goals. Even Decaux tried to help his team in the third by taking the ball to goal from a throw in.
Although Merlos was given a yellow card in the fifth chukka, his success at converting penalties and the great teamwork from Merlos, Roldan and Queen’s Cup newcomer Julian de Lusarreta clearly paid off for La Indiana. We can now look forward to a thrilling encounter with HB Polo this Saturday afternoon. Both these teams have impressed with some great play over the past fortnight and they will all be eager to secure that all-important second victory.
Dubai 9 – 8 Britannia El Remanso at Guards Polo Club
Dubai are now the third team in this year’s tournament to have won their first two league matches – joining King Power Foxes and Zacara in this exalted club. However Dubai did not have an easy time of it as they were up against Charlie Hanbury’s all-English Britannia El Remanso setup. In fact El Remanso were leading after the second (3-2) and never let Dubai run away with this game. In what Pololine described as “the best game of the tournament so far”, these two great teams were neck and neck after the third chukka (4-4).
Dubai managed to get some air into the score in the second half, but El Remanso kept them in their sights and continued to battle. They closed the gap back to just one goal (7-6) early in the sixth chukka, only for Dubai to pull ahead once more. This seemed to spur El Remanso on and two further goals put this match into extra time. However, Cambiaso is not considered the best player of his generation for nothing and it was he that fired the golden goal to secure Rashid Albwardy’s side their second victory.
Dubai will now play Zacara in what is likely to be another tough and exciting match this Friday lunchtime, while Britannia El Remanso, on paper, may have a slightly easier task as they play Ben Soleimani’s RH Polo on Friday afternoon. That said, this is the Cartier Queen’s Cup – 22-goal polo at its very best – and there is still all to play for from every team.
Cartier Queen’s Cup Next Matches
Friday 27th May
12noon Dubai v Zacara at Zacara
3pm Britannia El Remanso v RH Polo at Guards Polo Club or Coworth Park