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June
18, 2006
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 Dubai
not bucked by the Broncos and retain Queen’s Cup
THE CARTIER
QUEEN’S CUP FINAL 2006
Match Report by Iain Forbes-Cockell (“The Major”)
Ali Albwardy’s
Dubai retained The Queen’s Cup, sponsored by Cartier, with a victory
over George Milford-Haven’s Broncos in a tough, close game running
out 12-11 winners. Dubai, this year playing with Ali’s son Tariq
(Ali will play The Gold Cup) up front and a rapidly improving George Meyrick
at Back, had the familiar combination in the middle of Adolfo Cambiaso
and Piki Diaz-Alberdi. Their relatively smooth progression to the final
hinted that, yet again, they had a winning formula. Broncos had their
Patron George Milford-Haven, a very solid 1 Goal player up front, the
useful South African Gareth Evans at Back and the rising stars of polo,
brothers Facundo and Gonzalito Pieres at No 2 and No 3 respectively. Broncos
also had a relatively smooth path to the finals, with a few close calls
on the way but the form they showed in their semi-final last Wednesday
against Black Bears, one of the best open fast moving games seen so far
this season, led one to think that an upset might be on the cards. The
big question was which team could impose their game on the other team.
Would we have the “train” style of Adolfo and Piki or would
we have the flat out galloping game the Pieres brothers so adore? The
head said that Cambiaso and his team would come up with something very
special (as he had done in the Palermo Open final last December) and the
heart hoped that we would witness the emergence of a new generation of
polo stars with a fast and dynamic style of play. The truth is that we
witnessed elements of both. Dubai received 1 goal on handicap and won
by 1 goal. From the first chukka, which saw Dubai winning 4 – 1,
Adolfo tried to impose his game on the Pieres brothers. At times during
the match goals were being scored tit-for-tat. Both teams scored the same
number of goals on the field of play. The greater experience of Piki and
Adolfo just edged their team to victory but it was Adolfo’s ability
to select and adjust his style of play that was the winning element. Sure
the “train” was a bit boring but effective, with George Meyrick
being very persistent and effective in his riding off, however, Adolfo
showed on several occasions that he could run the ball the length of the
field at a flat out gallop and score. His run on the highly admired award-winning
pony “Small Person” was truly spectacular. Piki also had a
great run down the field to score after a Broncos attack-busting intercept
just to prove that, although he was the most senior in age on the field
of play, with that age comes experience and ability at crucial moments
in the game. We were truly fortunate to see some wonderful stick-work
by Facundo Pieres and almost telepathic passing between him and Gonzalito.
Both teams missed a few shots at goal, either during field play or penalties.
At one stage in the game Facundo just let a few of the umpire calls upset
him and one just sensed that Adolfo noticed that too and he pressed home
an advantage building up a 2 goal lead late in the last chukka. Broncos
peppered the Dubai goal 3 times within 90 seconds desperately trying to
score the equaliser to take the game into overtime but Adolfo was well
aware of the clock ticking away and he was the last person to strike the
ball towards the boards when the hooter went for full time. Spectators
had been treated to a fantastic demonstration of equestrian skills, stick
work, passing skills and teamwork from both teams and it was a pleasure
to have witnessed this level of competition.
Score:
4-1, 5-4, 7-6, 9-8, 11-10, 12-11
Dubai:
1.Tariq Albwardy (0)
2. Adolfo Cambiaso (10)
3. Piki Diaz-Alberdi (9)
4. George Meyrick (2)
Broncos:
1.George Milford-Haven (1)
2. Facundo Pieres (9)
3. Gonzalito Pieres (8)
4. Gareth Evans (4)
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