I’m a little late on this post and soon to be on my way to watch the final, so I’ll be brief. There were three games again on this day, the first was held at La Picaza and was between the 16 goal team of Altamira and the 15 goal REI team. Altamira need to win this match by a large amount to have any chance at attaining a place in the final after the drubbing they received from Los Cocos. 
The score was 6-3 for Altamira early in the 3rd chukka, they were going to need to shut down REI and put a few more on the board to have a chance to advance. By the end of the chukka their lead had shrunk to 2 goals at 8-5 and their task looked to be a little tougher. For every goal they made in the 4th chukka REI had an answer and the chukka ended at 10-7, Altamira no closer to attaining the final. The 5th chukka went exactly as had the 4th with REI staying within 2 goals at 11-9. Altamira’s hopes of achieving a place in the finals looked to be fading fast and the 6th and final chukka bore that out as they only managed one goal while allowing REI one of their own, thereby ending the game 12-10 in favour of Altamira but essentially eliminating their finals hopes.
The second match of the day was across and up the road at La Aguada between the 16 goal sides of Anaconda and Power Horse. The teams were entering this match with exactly opposite records, Anaconda at 0-2 and Power Horse at 2-0 was assured a trip to the final with a third win. 
Anaconda could possibly play the role of spoiler were they to take this match and started out well notching the first goal of the game. Guillermo Terrera answered back for Power Horse but Anaconda struck three more times before Terrera finished the chukka with his 2nd. Anaconda’s chances to play spoiler were looking good so far, leading 4-2 to end the first chukka. Power Horse came out for the 2nd looking a little more focused and that chukka closed 5-4, still in favour of Anaconda. The third chukka saw Anaconda continue it’s strong play and finished at 7-5 still in favour of Anaconda. Were they actually going to spoil Power Horse’s chances for the final? The teams traded goals in the 4th chukka and Anaconda maintained their two goal lead, their chances were looking good to pull off the upset. Then the 5th chukka happened. Power Horse scoring 3 goals to Anaconda’s 1 and the match was all tied up at 10 with one chukka left to play. Power Horse duplicated their three goal performance of the 5th but kept Anaconda off the board to finish the chukka and the game at 13-10 and assure themselves of a position in the final.
A quick hop in the car to another field in La Aguada to the last match of the day the 2-0 La Picaza (16 goals) vs the 1-1 Los Cocos (16 goals). La Picaza having the better record only needed to come out of this match with a tie in regulation to advance to the finals, Los Cocos needed to win by at least one goal. 
It promised to be a good match as both teams had played very well throughout the tournament. The game started out well for La Picaza as they went out to an early 3-1 lead in the first chukka. The second didn’t see much change in the situation as both teams notched goals ending the chukka at 4-2 with La Picaza holding on to their lead. The third chukka saw Los Cocos make up some ground but La Picaza scored late to maintain a slim lead and finish the chukka at 6-5 in their favour. A hard fought fourth finished with Los Cocos’ Tomas Lalor backing a ball to a streaking Diego Cavanagh and a goal to close the chukka in a tie. The fifth was furious action that saw Eduardo Heguy strike a penalty true and score one from the field to go up 10-8 before Cavanagh answered back to end the chukka at 10-9 in favour of La Picaza. Fantastic polo by both squads to this point and it was only to continue, the game raged back and fourth during the 6th chukka. La Picaza stretched their lead to 11-9, then Cavanagh replied, 11-10, complaints from La Picaza…a technical…Cavanagh hammers it low, off a player or a post and in , 11-11…then Tomas Lalor finished from the throw-in and it was 12-11 for Los Cocos with 30 seconds left…Eduardo Heguy carrying to goal…he’s fouled with 7 seconds on the clock…if he ties the game La Picaza goes to the final! Heguy lines up the penalty shot…approaches…fires…wide!!!! Los Cocos in the finals!!! Wow…what a game…what a spectacular finish!
Thanks for reading!
Chau for now.
Dylan Foster