An article by Pascal Renauldon
Photos by R&B Presse / Pascal Renauldon
La Dolfina’s 2024 results were mixed, at least in terms of the legendary team’s standing: Copa Cámara winners, Team III (Valiente) narrowly failed to qualify for the play-offs (outstanding game, by the way); Mia Cambiaso’s women’s team again failed to reach the final against Overo Z7 and, above all, La Dolfina 1 failed to win a single Triple Crown trophy, losing again in the Abierto final to La Natividad. All this led to a transfer waltz for 2025 the very next week. Not a single 2025 team will resemble the 2024 line-up. Unheard of!
There were two matches in this 131th final of the Argentine Open. In the first four chukkers, La Dolfina seemed to have the match in hand (6-4 in the fourth) before taking a scathing 7-0 over the next three periods. It wasn’t an exciting encounter, and the result was largely down to individual actions, particularly those of Jeta Castagnola. The conclusion is that La Dolfina (alone) will never win another sixteenth title, and that Adolfo Cambiaso is unlikely to equal the record of Juan C. Harriott Jr. who won the Abierto twenty times between 1957 and 1979 with Coronel Suarez’s great team. But perhaps next year he’ll join Harriott’s team-mate Horacio Heguy Sr. in second place with nineteen titles. To this end, Adolfo Cambiaso has managed to reach an agreement with his brother-in-law, Lolo Castagnola, to form the dream-team he has been fantasizing of for some time, with him alongside his son Poroto and his nephews, his sister Camila’s sons Jeta and Barto Castagnola. In other words, an unbeatable team: we already know the name of the 2025 Argentine champion… And for Cambiaso, it will undoubtedly be the best outing at almost 50 years!
Behind this future Natividad-Dolfina is a whirlwind of transfers. Uruguayan Pelon Stirling, Cambiaso’s loyal lieutenant since 2011, has announced his retirement from the Abierto with nine titles under his belt, while Juan Martin Nero has signed for a new team, El Overo Z7, alongside Polito Pieres and Tomas Panelo (who are leaving La Hache) and Lukin Monterverde, promoted to handicap 9, who is leaving an Ellerstina that will clearly not be represented in 2025. Gonzalo and Facundo Pieres, on the other hand, will be reunited with the Heguy cousins at Indios Chapaleufu. Etc. etc. In short, there won’t be a single 2024 line-up in 2025. An unprecedented upheaval in the history of the world’s greatest tournament (see table).
Women’s Open: La Dolfina loses… and recruits two of their winners.
No fifth title for Mía Cambiaso (despite a great match), her Dolfina having been led from start to finish by titleholder El Overo Z7 UAE without the slightest debate. Hazel Jackson and, above all, Cande Araujo put in a great performance, with the latter producing some spectacular moves and finishing with some fine golazos. These performances earned both players a promotion to 10 goals, while their defender Millie Hine was upgraded from 8 to 9, as was Mía Cambiaso.
The debriefing and subsequent measures were swift on the La Dolfina side: exit Nina Clarkin, although she had been the main architect of La Dolfina’s four victories; exit Lía Salvo, who didn’t really get a chance to express herself within the team; and recruitment of American Hope Arellano and England’s Millie Hine, the tournament’s top scorer, thus stripping El Overo Z7 of two key players. It’s a strategy not unlike that of Adolfo Cambiaso, who, after being beaten by Ellerstina in 2010, “stole” Pablo McDonough and Juan Martin Nero from his opponents, only to win nine Abierto with them!
The “repechaje”, the match you had to see.
The repechaje is the play-off between the Copa Cámara winner and the eighth-placed team in the Triple Crown standings (bearing in mind that the ninth and tenth-placed teams will have to qualify again in 2025). The Copa Cámara is to the Argentine Open what the Europa League is to the Champions League in soccer. The “second league” with teams of 24 to 31 goals, of which there were sixteen this year. Interesting matches to watch, often fierce as was the final between La Dolfina Valiente (La Dolfina team 3) and La Ensenada II. La Dolfina Valiente won the match, which earned them the right to contest the repechaje against La Hache Cría y Polo. This was undoubtedly one of the finest matches of the Argentine high season. Open polo, first-strike balls, long flights, a few golazos, an exchange of attacks from home to home and perfect suspense. A match dominated and perfectly controlled by La Hache for 6 chukkers, and then La Dolfina’s revolt in the seventh and (normally) last chukker. A 3-0 scoreline, including a goal in the dying seconds, sent La Hache into extra time. La Dolfina had their work cut out when they were awarded a 60-yard penalty which Luquitas Criado just missed, while another shot hit the post. Finally, Toly Ulloa broke free to score the only goal of the game. All in all, La Hache Cría y Polo logically saved its fine season, while La Dolfina will be absent from the 2025 Triple Crown for the first time in a quarter-century!
Final 131th Argentine Open :
La Natividad: Jeta Castagnola 10 (9, including 5 penalties), Facundo Pieres 10 (3, including 1 penalty), Pablo Mac Donough 10 (1) and Bartolo Castagnola 10. Total: 40.
La Dolfina Saudi: Adolfo Cambiaso 10 (4, including 1 penalty), Pelon Stirling 10, Poroto Cambiaso 10 (5, including 3 penalties) and Juan M. Nero 10 (2). Total: 40.
La Natividad: 1-1, 2-5, 3-5, 4-6, 8-6, 11-6, 12-7 and 13-11.
Final 8th Argentine Women’s Open
El Overo Z7 UAE: Hope Arellano 10 (1 goal), Candelaria Fernández Araujo 9 (3), Hazel Jackson 9 (4) and Millie Hine (1 penalty) 8. Total: 36.
La Dolfina: Lía Salvo 9 (2 penalties), Catalina Lavinia 8 (2), Mía Cambiaso 8 (3) and Nina Clarkin 9. Total: 34.
El Overo Z7 UAE: 1-1, 1-1, 4-1, 6-2, 7-5 and 10-7.
Repechaje
La Hache Cría y Polo: Facundo Sola 8 (6 goals), Carlos M. Ulloa 8 (4), Benjamín Panelo 7 (2) and Joaquín Pittaluga 8 (4, including 2 penalties and 1 corner). Total: 31.
La Dolfina Valiente: Lucas Criado Jr. 7 (7, including 3 penalties), Gonzalo Ferrari 7 (3), Mariano González Jr. 7 (1) and Isidro Strada 7 (4). Total: 28.
La Hache Cría y Polo: 5-2, 7-4, 10-8, 12-9, 15-10, 15-12, 15-15 and 16-15.
The post Cambiaso: one last dance in 2025? appeared first on POLO+10.
Source: Polo News Archives – POLO+10 Read More