Cambiaso, La Dolfina and their dominance have shaken the pole that is coming

suddenly the explosion. “Because” of the man who revolutionized polo. Adolfo Cambiaso had already done everything to be considered the most influential player in the history of the sport. The records, the marketing, the titles, the brand (La Dolfina is not just a team), the goals, the cloning… What was missing? He wins once again in Palermo, at 47 and with an exhausted physique, but now with his son who is just 17 years old. Then everything turned completely upside down. And all in view of 2023. Because you don’t have to look the other way. If La Natividad, champion of the Open in 2022 and this year’s winner in Tortugas, decided to change 50 percent of its lineup, it was because Cambiaso himself announced that La Dolfina would continue with the same four members next year. To continue to reign, of course. That’s why the Castagnola quartet had to do something…

What surprised the most was that Facundo Pieres will be one of the new figures of the team to play at full-back, a position in which he feels comfortable. The surname Pieres is synonymous with Ellerstina. His father, Gonzalo, was the founder of an organization started with the help of the Australian tycoon Kerry Packer. After his success at La Espadaña, Pieres created that model club of General Rodríguez to play (and continue to win) in his last years as a polo player but also to leave a legacy to his children. And one of them, the best of all, decided to kick the board and look for new tunes. It was the most difficult sports decision in Facundo Pieres’ life. But at 36 and after reviewing an extraordinary career, he has realized that having won “only” three titles in the world’s top tournament is very little. And that Ellerstina, since 2012, has not prevailed in Palermo. Until recently he was close. Very close. But in 2022 he barely played a high handicap final (Tortugas) and lost it.

The other “different” from La Natividad will be Pablo MacDonough. Here’s an easier read: beyond what the game means at 10 handicaps (and champion of Palermo on 11 opportunities), he is one of the best ridden players in the world thanks to the work done on his La Irenita kennel. MacDonough will give the team an edge at that decisive point of the pole and will somehow compensate for the deficit of the South African Ignatius du Plessis and Castagnola themselves, newer on the pitch.

What will become of Ellerstina and La Irenita, then? Ellerstina added Gonzalo and Nicolás Pieres to the ascendant Bautista Bayugar and Du Plessis himself while version I of La Irenita will disappear after a good season in which, with a new team, he reached the definition of Hurlingham. Now the MacDonough club’s main lineup must recruit a fourth man (Facundo Sola, who would arrive with the support of Murus Sanctus, the organization of French Corinne Ricard?) to continue with cousins ​​Facundo and Tomás Fernández Llorente and Isidro Strada.

It is expected to know what will happen with La Hache. Hilario Ulloa, now ex Ellerstina and point of reference for him, will play again with Guillermo Caset and will add Pablo Pieres and Francisco Elizalde. All four, individually, are extraordinary players. But the set has one problem: there is no natural back. Pieres, the other one left without a place at La Natividad, is first or second striker, Elizalde and Ulloa also play as number 2 and Caset is 3. But of course nobody feels the role behind so you have to “sacrifice yourself”. so that he sells a team that, it is insisted, promises right from the names. It’s a lot.

In addition to La Hache II, which saved its place in the Triple Crown after defeating Nuestra Tierra, champion of the Cup of the Chamber of Deputies, another team that is about to be officially confirmed is La Ensenada. After a year, Juan Britos, Alfredo Bigatti, Juan Martín Zubía and Jerónimo del Carril will meet again. In 2021 he had a good season and with more experience and a better set-up he is a team capable of surprising.

While everything smiles at Cambiaso who already has to walk between Cañuelas and Washington, the Cordovan countryside where he has his calf, between toasts and celebrations, and while his satellite team -Cría La Dolfina- is also confirmed for 2023 with the same lineup ( Guillermo Terrera, Tomás Panelo, Diego Cavanagh and Alejo Taranco), his main opponents have just begun to realign. It is that, as always, Cañuelas’ crack continues one step ahead of everyone.