Caroline Polo

La Natividad 15 – La Dolfina 13

Although the score was in La Natividad’s favor for most of the afternoon, La Dolfina mounted an intense comeback in the 7th and 8th chukkers. At the start of the 7th, La Dolfina scored the first two goals to bring the score within 2 (after having been down by as many as 5 back in the 5th). La Natividad then responded with 2 goals of their own in the final two minutes of the 7th to finish the chukker at 4 goals ahead. (The previous three chukkers had also ended with La Natividad ahead by four goals.)

In the 8th, La Dolfina scored 3 unanswered goals in the first three minutes to pull within one. Then with 3:27 remaining in the 8th, probably the most critical throw-in of the match took place. Fran Elizalde gained possession on his offside while Adolfo took off for the La Natividad goal to receive a pass. But Polito somehow went around the nose of Elizalde’s horse to steal the ball away and took off on his own breakaway. He scored. Polito’s play turned a potential game tying moment into a two goal lead for La Natividad. Fran Elizalde, astounded that a foul had not been called, decided to take the ball himself out of the very next throw in and go all the way to La Natividad’s goal on a dramatic solo scoring run. La Dolfina was now down by just 1 again, this time with 2 … Continue

The King Is Dead, Long Live The King

Our brain tells us it’s La Dolfina. And if it’s La Dolfina… well forget it. You can count on them winning any final match of the Argentine Open. Except that this year La Dolfina has almost no chance of winning the final match.

The best player in the world plays for La Natividad. His name is Jeta Castagnola. Jeta’s quiet, unassuming ways lull us into not fully understanding what is going on. Jeta does not argue with umpires. Jeta does not call the camera’s attention via the force of an intense on-field personality. Jeta does not play clones. Jeta does not exhibit the presence of a battlefield commander. Jeta is the opposite of Adolfo in almost every way. Adolfo’s helmet can be seen for miles. Jeta’s helmet is gray. Or is it white? Or is violet? We don’t know. Jeta is the gray man.

To remain unseen by predators, don’t trigger their attention. From an article written in 2013 titled “Gray Man Strategies 101“:

The gray man moves around our awareness without triggering alarms. Energetically, the gray man is withdrawn. He does not project confidence. The gray man moves through the periphery of our awareness without creating any stimulus. This makes the gray man invisible for all practical purposes.

And this is Jeta Castagnola. Nothing else explains why he is left unguarded & undefended time and time again. If you place Jeta in open space with possession of the ball … Continue

We all hope that the Zone B semifinal match between RS Murus Sanctus vs La Natividad today will be a close thriller. Close matches between top contenders are what we’ve been hoping for since we learned that the 2021 high goal season would not have a 40 goal La Dolfina team to deal with.

If I had to handicap this match, I would set it as La Natividad by 2 goals. In the Hurlingham Open final we watched a speedy La Natividad blow past a slower Murus Sanctus team that seemed a step behind on defense. On Wednesday we watched the 39 goal Murus Sanctus barely slip by the 33 goal Brava. In the Murus Sanctus tent afterward we saw Pablo Mac Donough in obvious pain while the tape wrap was removed from his right thigh.

Despite how much we love watching the separated-at-birth “brothers” Pablo Mac Donough and JuanMa Nero play together, the main issue for Murus Sanctus is this:
JuanMa Nero age: 40 years, 7 months
Pablo Mac Donough age: 39 years, 9 months

Or to put this another way, here is the issue for the Murus Sanctus defense.
JuanMa Nero: 40 years
vs
Jeta Castagnola: 18 years

Combine the above with the fact that it is probably not in JuanMa Nero’s best financial interest to invest heavily in horsepower this late in his career (whereas horsepower is absolutely everything to Jeta Castagnola), and the advantage combined with age tilts in La Natividad’s favor.

In their youth, the … Continue

The final Chukker of La Ensenada vs La Dolfina today at the Argentine Open (Match #10) … I thought surely La Dolfina would tie up the match in the final minutes and go on to win. In fact everyone at Palermo thought that. And at times it was inevitable! There was a goal-line save by Adolfo with a backshot to Pelon who reminded everyone what 1/2 of the old 40 goal team looked like. Pelon took the ball end to end and drew a foul from Jero del Carril under pressure which set up Adolfo to bring his team within 1. Then there were two tap-the-ball-to-goal scrums in the La Ensenada end, both perfect opportunities for Adolfo to draw a foul. But La Ensenada did not foul. And then there was a last second charge by Adolfo from the Dolfina end. Surely he would score… But it didn’t happen. La Ensenada played great defense and never let La Dolfina get away from them. With the match on the line they refused to give up the inevitable game-tying foul. And against La Dolfina, with all the pressure (like a black SUV filling up the rearview mirror in the fast lane), that’s quite a task.

Until today, no one had beaten RS Murus Sanctus this season other than Ellerstina. And La Natividad appeared well on their way to being a bust in 2020 after almost losing to La Irenita II last Thursday and earlier losing to RS Murus Sanctus by 3 goals back in the Tortugas Open (despite being a goal better on handicap). In Tortugas, RS Murus Sanctus led the entire match from start to finish. They played like a well-oiled machine possibly poised to give even Ellerstina trouble this season. After crushing a crippled La Dolfina in the Hurlingham semis, Murus Sanctus appeared to have arrived at the peak of the elite. (They seemed to sense this as well as evidenced by the ecstatic joy and embraces with family and friends afterwards.) Before today, only Ellerstina had been able to bring them down to earth. In the Hurlingham Finals against the Pieres brothers+Hilario, Sapo Caset missed somewhere near a half dozen penalty shots while Capella, their strong-hitting back, seemed barely able to move the ball while possibly suffering from a case of nerves or something inexplicable. Afterwards, RS Murus Sanctus apologists noted that the Murus Sanctus players had a bad day, a very bad day, and who knows, perhaps they didn’t warm up properly before the big match.

Trying to handicap today’s match, though, against La Natividad, you’d think that RS Murus Sanctus would have been the favorite. They beat La Natividad handily back in the Tortugas Open. Also, in La Natividad’s shocking … Continue

Beautiful view of Palermo today

Cancha Uno en Campo Argentino de Polo en Palermo, Buenos Aires