Facundo Pieres scored seventeen of his teams eighteen goals in an 18-17 overtime win in the finals of the Hublot Gold Cup in Spain.
Would someone please explain to me how Facundo Pieres can score seventeen out of eighteen goals to lead the Ellerston team to the Hublot Gold Cup Championship in Spain this afternoon and not be named Most Valuable Player?
Forget that the 10-goaler is currently ranked as the Number 1 player in the game and that he played on the winning US Open team in April before traveling to Europe where he ran the table winning the Queens Cup, the British Open, Spain’s Silver and Gold Cups—let’s just talk about Saturday’s game In which he scores seventeen goals and was not named MVP.
Granted, Sebastian Merlos, the recipient of the MVP trophy played well in the finals. He was effective defensively and scored five goals on the day, but he scored twelve fewer goals than Facundo did and he played on the LOSING team!
Is it political correctness to give a bone to the losing team? If so, then you might have considered offering the Best Playing Pony award, a category that is far more subjective, but don’t try to justify the awarding of the MVP trophy because he had a good game and then hope you don’t have to explain it to anyone.
For my money, Facundo Pieres was far and away the best player on the field. Although he and Gonzalito attracted defenders like a porch light attracts moths, they managed to continually put the pressure on the better-balanced UAE team with defensive efforts resulting in fouls that Facundo converted for goals. Fully fifteen of his record-setting 17 goals came on penalty shots, including the winning shot in overtime, as the UAE defenders threw caution to the wind in efforts to stop the Ellerston attacks.
Sebastian Merlos, you played a heroic game. Your horses were impressive, your efforts, even after injuring your riding muscle, were commendable, but there is no rational reasoning that could conclude that anyone but Facundo Pieres should have been name the Most Valuable Player.