UAE Polo 13 – 9 Great Oaks LL
Murus Sanctus-La Magdeleine 9 – 6 Emlor
UAE Polo confirmed that they are a team to be reckoned in this year’s tournament following a confident win over Dillon Bacon’s Great Oaks LL. UAE were trailing Great Oaks until the fifth chukka but seemed in control of this game from much earlier on. Tomy Beresford was really strong at back while Polito Pieres was again showing his worth with his confident penalty taking and his ability under pressure. Cata Lavinia was deputising for Sheikha Maitha and again played well. Ignacio Terrera was the stand-out player for Great Oaks today, although Dillon Bacon had a good early game, including scoring the first goal of the match However Cata was effective in keeping him away from the ball in the second half. In fact UAE’s strong defensive work prevented Great Oaks from scoring at all in the sixth chukka, ensuring UAE won the game by four goals.
Both teams in the second game were looking for that all-important first victory and honours went to Alexandre Garese’s Murus Sanctus-La Magdeleine. They led Emlor 2-1 at the end of the first, thanks to two goals from Guillermo “Sapo” Caset, and did not look back. Facundo Sola and Sapo again worked well together and team-work from all four members of the Murus Sanctus-La Magdeleine squad paid dividends. They seemed to always be in the right place at the right time. At half-time Murus Sanctus-La Magdeleine were 6-3 up and although Agustin Merlos converted several penalties for Spencer McCarthy’s team, the end result was never in doubt. Spencer himself fired through a couple of goals in the fourth and went on to save a Sapo goal in the sixth chukka but it was not enough to alter the final outcome of this match.
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