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L A I N D I A N A D I D N O T R E C R U I T
1 0 - G O A L E R F A C U N D O P I E R E S T O
B E P U S H E D D OWN A N D L O S E
The Spanish high-goal season saw two
teams rise above the rest: La Indiana and
Lechuza Caracas. On paper, these two
organisations had an equally successful
season – both teams secured eight wins and
suffered two losses, and each took a trophy
home. But not all titles are made equal, and
in the end Michael Bickford’s boys were the
ones who knew when to push the tempo to
take the most prestigious title in Spain: the
Copa de Oro. Victor Vargas’ Lechuza Caracas
started the season in style at Santa Maria
Polo Club, winning four consecutive matches
to comfortably secure the Silver Cup. For
a moment, it seemed the Venezuelan
organisation, with its two 10-goalers (David
‘Pelón’ Stirling and Juan Martín Nero) could
not be breached. But La Indiana did not
recruit 10-goaler Facundo Pieres, who won
the Gold Cup in 2017 with Ayala, to be pushed
down and lose. Expectations were high, and
after a quick rejig of the line-up, which saw
Santiago Gómez Romero join the squad, La
Indiana took on the Gold Cup with a renewed
sense of determination.
Five consecutive wins later and La
Indiana were a mere six chukkas away from
glory. Only Lechuza stood in their way, and
with three 10-goal players on the field,
a close final was expected. The first half
saw both teams fight for possession, with
Lechuza attacking consistently, but
inaccurate shooting, which saw them convert
just two of their first nine shot attempts,
prevented them from gaining a substantial
advantage. In the third, La Indiana tightened
their defence and found spaces to take back
control before the half-time bell (5–4).
The fourth determined the fate of the
final. Pieres worked well with Santiago
Laborde, scoring goals and crafting a superb
cadence. A monumental strike by the
10-goaler frommidfield found goal to take
them 7–4 up. Lechuza, however, fumbled,
Opposite:
Santiago Gómez Romero (left) was
the standout player of the month.
This page
,
right:
Michael Bickford in the final
missing penalties and struggling to control
the ball. They were exposed – any mistake
made by Stirling and Nero was taken
advantage of by their opponents, and they
finished the fourth 5–9 down. Lechuza
heaved themselves upright in the fifth,
clawing back a few goals, but Pieres pushed
back harder in the sixth, refusing to leave
anything to chance. La Indiana’s hard work
paid off: the prestigious high-goal Gold Cup
was finally theirs.
Post match, Pieres declared that the final
was his team’s best match of the season.‘We
were up against the Silver Cup champions,
and they had been playing really well,’ he
says.‘But we were on point, too. We had a
great fourth chukka and we managed to keep
our advantage. All four of us played well.
Winning in Sotogrande makes me happy, the
Gold Cup is important for any player, and it
is not easy to defend any of these big titles.’
Facundo, who scored 10 of his team’s 13
goals, was named MVP of the final, while his
mare Azúcar was chosen as BPP. But Gomez
Romero was the name on everyone’s lips,
having won the medium-goal Triple Crown
with Ayala and the high-goal Gold Cup with
La Indiana, all in one season.‘This year will be
hard to top,’ beams the 28 year old.
The end of one season marks the start of
another, and with the closing of the Gold Cup
the international polo community turn their
heads, lick their lips, and prepare to devour
the decadent gateaux that is the Argentine
Triple Crown. This year, there’s a twist:
Ellerstina will now be playing off 40 goals,
meaning that, on paper at least, they will
be meeting rivals La Dolfina as equals.
Of course, Cambiaso and co have been
victorious in the Argentine Open Championship
since 2013, but Pieres intends to finish the
year as he started it: a winner.
