By Alex Webbe
Cambiaso scores two-point penalty shot to beat EFG Bank in the annual 40-goal Outback Challenge Cup at the International Polo club to benefit the Player’s Support Group.
One of the most celebrated exhibition matches of the season, the event fields two teams of players, each carrying a 10-goal handicap in the highest rated match in North America.
The Pilot CSI team lined up with Adolfo Cambiaso, Eduardo Novillo Astrada, Mariano Aguerre and Pablo MacDonough while the EFG Bank team had the services of Facundo Pieres, Sebastian Merlos, Gonzalito Pieres and Juan Martin Nero.
Not only do each of these players carry a 10-goal handicap in the United States, but each and every one of them is currently competing in high-goal competition at the International Polo Club and can be seen on the playing fields throughout the coming weeks.
Cambiaso opened up the scoring in the first chukker with a pair of goals with EFG Bank responding with goals from Facundo Pieres and Juan Martin Nero. The game was tied at 2-2.
The pace picked up in the second chukker, but scoring was at a premium with Facundo Pieres getting on the scoreboard with a single goal for ERG and Pablo MacDonough scoring a goal for Pilot CSI. The teams remained deadlocked at 3-3.
Cambiaso converted a penalty shot for a goal in the third, but Gonzalito Pieres scored his first goal to keep it all even at the end of the first half, 4-4.
The competition intensified in the fourth, but goals continued to be hard to come by. Cambiaso put Pilot CSI on top, 5-4, but Facundo’s third goal of the game evened it once again, 5-5.
Facundo Pieres put EFG Bank ahead, 6-5, to open the fifth chukker, but that was when Cambiaso and company got its offense in gear. Consecutive goals from Eduardo Novillo Astrada, Mariano Aguerre and Cambiaso ended the chukker with EFG Bank trailing, 8-6.
EFG Bank took the field in the sixth chukker determined to sink Pilot CSI. Consecutive goals from Juan Martin Nero, Facundo Pieres (60-yard penalty conversion) and Gonzalito Pieres had EFG Bank ahead 9-8 with time running out.
With just seconds left on the clock, Pilot CSI pressed its attack and caused an EFG Bank foul. Pilot CSI was awarded a penalty shot which Cambiaso chose to retreat to the 2-point line or the 60-yard mark where he drove the ball through the goal posts for the 10-9 win.