Adolfo and Facundo in
Spain
By Alex Webbe
If you’re looking for the next showdown between Facundo
Pieres and Adolfo Cambiaso you’re going to have to be patient. Following Dubai’s 12-9 win over Scapa (today in
the finals of the Santa Maria Polo Club’s 22-goal Bronze Cup at the Santa Maria
Polo Club at Sotogrande, Spain, the field of eight will swell to 10 teams as UAE
(HH Sheikha Maitha Al Maktoum, Sebastian Merlos, Lucas Monteverde and Santiago
Stirling) and Ellerston join the mix
with Jamie Packer taking the field with 10-goalers Facundo and Gonzalito Pieres
on the Ellerston team.
Facundo’s first major triumph over Adolfo Cambiaso this year
occurred in the finals of the United States Open Championship in April when he
led Lyndon Lea’s Zacara team to an 11-8 win.
Fast forward to June and July in England and Facundo leads
Zacara to wins in the Queens Cup and the Gold Cup for the British Open—with the
final of the British Open coming in a face to face encounter between Facundo Pieres
and Adolfo Cambiaso. Facundo’s win in
the Queens Cup gave him the Number 1 ranking on the World Polo Tour with the
British Open win just padding the lead over former Number 1, Cambiaso.
It was first thought that Cambiaso would be playing at the
Santa Maria Polo Club with HH Sheikha Maitha Al Maktoum, but Rashid Albwardy decided
on entering the field, keeping Cambiaso with him. That setting up another potential head-on-head
meeting with Facundo Pieres.
A Silver Cup
schedule eliminates any possibility of the two meeting in the opening rounds of
play, but when playoff positions come into view, all bets are off.