Zacara and Dubai advance to Gold Cup semifinals

By Alex Webbe

It was brother against brother Sunday afternoon on the polo grounds of Lord Milford Haven’s Great Trippetts farm as Zacara (Facundo Pieres, Lyndon Lea, Rodrigo Andrade and Matt Perry) and La Bamba de Areco (Jean Francois Decaux, Polito Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres and Ollie Cudmore) faced off in quarterfinal action of the 2013 Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup for the British Open.  Ten-goalers Facundo and Gonzalito Pieres found themselves on opposite sides as each tried to lead his team through to the tournament semifinals.

The pace was quick from the onset, with Zacara (4-0) taking the early edge.  Two Zacara goals were countered by a single goal from La Bamba de Areco (2-2), as Zacara battled to keep is unbeaten streak alive.  After the first chukker of play, Zacara took the early lead, 2-1.

Zacara continued to have the upper hand in the second period of play.  Three more Zacara goals were answered by two goals from La Bamba de Areco.  Zacara had extended their lead to two goals, 5-3 after the second period, and the teamwork of Facundo Pieres and Rodrigo Andrade in the Zacara lineup continued to dominate that of cousins Gonzalito and Polito Pieres for La Bamba de Areco.

After falling behind early, La Bamba de Areco played Zacara even throughout the third chukker.  Zacara and La Bamba de Areco matched one another goal for goal.  The first half ended with Zacara in front by two goals, 7-5.

Zacara continues to have its way with the La Bamba de Areco lineup.  Two unanswered goals in the fourth chukker had Zacara stretched its lead to four goals, 9-5, with two chukkers left to play.

La Bamba de Areco played Zacara even in the fifth chukker, but trailing by four goals, playing them even wasn’t going to be enough.  Zacara was four goals on top, 11-7 going into the final chukker of the game.

Zacara might have taken their foot off of the gas pedal a little early as La Bamba de Areco rallied for three straight goals in the final chukker while holding Zacara scoreless.  Zacara (5-0) managed to hold them off, however, and rode off the field with the 11-10 win and a berth in Thursday’s semifinals against Talandracas (4-1).

DUBAI 11, TWELVE OAKS 9

Both Dubai (Franco Veronesi playing for Rashid Albwardy, Nico Pieres, Adolfo Cambiaso, Alec White) and Twelve Oaks (Ed Banner-Eve substituting for Jack Hyde, Magoo Laprida, Marcos Di Paola and Inaki Laprida) lost their last games, and were hoping for a better showing in today’s quarterfinal match, but the early going wasn’t impressive.  Dubai managed just a single goal as Twelve Oaks and the Laprida brothers (Magoo and Inaki) engineered an early 2-1 lead in the last quarterfinal of the Gold Cup at Cowdray Park this afternoon.

Dubai came out firing in the second chukker.  Dubai registered three goals while holding Twelve Oaks to a single score.  Dubai took a 4-3 lead at the end of the second chukker.

Adolfo Cambiaso and Nico Pieres took control of the game in the third chukker.  Three Dubai goals went unanswered as Twelve Oaks fell behind by four goals, 7-3, at the end of the first half.

Dubai scored three goals for the third consecutive chukker as they extended their lead to five goals, 10-5.  Twelve Oaks scored twice in the fourth period, but continued to have difficulties stopping the Dubai offense.

Twelve Oaks outscored Dubai for the first time since the opening chukker, but the 2-1 advantage did little to cut into the five goals lead.  After five chukkers Dubai led, 11-7.

Dubai coasted through the final seven minutes of the game, giving up a pair of goals to Twelve Oaks but holding on to the lead in an 11-9 win.

The quarterfinals are now set with Zacara facing Talandracas and Dubai meeting El Remanso in Thursday action at Cowdray Park.