It was a glorious day of polo at Cowdray Park Polo Club on Wednesday 17th July as the top four teams of this year’s Gold Cup battled it out for their chance at the Gold Cup Final. Two exciting Semi Finals took place, with thrills, spills and comebacks galore.
Match 1
La Dolfina Great Oaks dominated the first half, with Poroto Cambiaso, left unchecked, wreaking havoc on King Power. 7-3 up as they headed into halftime, La Dolfina Great Oaks must have felt safe as they let their foot off the gas coming out of the break and King Power started to make their comeback. 17 fouls from La Dolfina Great Oaks gave King Power plenty of scoring opportunities and saw them get back in the game, scoring 8 out of their 11 final goals from the penalty line.
Entering the final chukka, La Dolfina held a strong 11-7 lead. However, King Power made a remarkable last chukka push, scoring 4 goals on the bounce to equalize at 11-11, forcing the match into an extra chukka. A foul by King Power early in overtime gave La Dolfina Great Oaks a crucial opportunity, and Diego Cavanagh capitalized by scoring the winning goal, securing a 12-11 victory and a spot in Sunday’s coveted Final.
Chukka Breakdown:
Score Progression:
Game Statistics:
The second match of the day was a far less contested affair with Dubai dominating throughout to run out easy winners. Much like the first match which was characterised by impressive individual play from Poroto, this match was all about Jeta Castagnola who scored a whopping 11 goals of the total 18 to push his team through to the Final on Sunday.
Score Progression:
Game Statistics:
