Dubai beats Open Titlists
By Herbert Spencer
The Albwardys’ Dubai defeated Jean-François Decaux’s La Bamba de Areco 13-12 Saturday to gain a place in the semi finals of the British Open Championship at Cowdray Park Polo Club.
La Bamba, the only one of the 20 teams with two 10-goal players, won the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup last year, but their defeat by Dubai has now put them out of the tournament.
Pablo MacDonough was man of the match for Dubai, scoring seven of their goals of which most were from the field. He and 10-goal skipper Adolfo Cambiaso combined brilliantly to dominate the game.
The 10-goal brothers Facundo and Gonzalito Pieres could do little to match the player and pony power of Dubai and only managed to tie up the game twice in the fifth and sixth chukkas. They missed numerous opportunities including tries from the field and penalty conversions and most of La Bamba’s goals were scored on penalties.
In an earlier quarter final match Victor Vargas’s Lechuza Caracas beat Max Gottschalk’s Les Lions II 11-10 to move to the semi finals. This was a match punctuated by whistles that brought the majority of goals scored on penalty conversions.