The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
… to The finals of the America Cup. They will meet Grant’s Farm and Polito Pieres. Talk about the meeting of energy … all you have to do is sit back and watch because they never stop ticking and it is a very swift tick there, there, and they are gone.
In a very weird game at SBPC this afternoon it was basically the semis between Mansour and Lucchese and it was a very boring 1 st chukkar. Lucchese just sailed thru to a 3 to 1 lead and Mansour scored with seconds to go. Sebe was in complete control. Then in the second it improved as Lucchese made a couple of fouls and let Mansour back in, but they gained no #’s as they were still down by 2 . The third chukker saw a lot of action, but Mansour gained and went into the 1/2 down by 1. Both teams came out hungry in the 4th and it was a disaster for Mansour as they tied it up early with 4 min. to go. Then went AWOL and had 3 penalties and add 2 technicals. One was over a goal with a flagman in the middle, so no telling in or out, but no other official views … what can you do? That cost them a Player for a couple of minutes and a two-goal swing and it finished 4 against 3 and Mansour down by 3. The 5th chukker had some more intelligent polo and a it was a whole different game by Mansour. They smoked Lucchese and finished up by 1 as they won the chukkar 4 to 0.
Some brilliant plays by Santi Von Wernich were definitely the saving grace as he was brilliant all game long. I thought he made a rather silly foul in the 6th, but if it’s only 1 … give him a break! They were up by two and he was the reason. A fast and furious finish was in order, but as they scored the penalty and got to within 1 and won the throw in, it was the Snowman ending all hopes. As the bell ticked 1 and he blasted it into the boards to send Mansour and Captain Ben to the finals where Ben must wonder why as he is matched up against Andy Busch. Most likely they will not win the head-to-head, but he does have some help with Santi, Hilario and Adam. They face some power as well. Jarod Sheldon is the low-goaler, but his name has been on a lot of silver this year and they have Jeff and the new power of Polo lately Polito Pieres, who likes finals and was just recently like 2 weeks Sunday MVP of The British Gold Cup. So look for the EverReady’s, they will both have the number 2 on their back. One will be Green and one not. If you can see it, if not look for the ZIP.
see ya