Argentina’s Best of Polo: Copa Anfitriones 2024

The La Ensenada Polo Club was dedicated to this year’s Copa Anfitriones, a tournament showcasing brilliant talents distributed among six teams. This carnival came to a halt last week, starting at the end of September, giving polo aficionados tonnes of memories to rejoice in. 

Participating Teams 

Qualy 1: La Ensenada vs El Overo Z7 UAE 

Date: 27 September 

The first bell rang, and La Ensenada and El Overo Z7 UAE were responsible for kicking off Copa Anfitriones. La Ensenada had a flying start, scoring half a dozen goals by the end of the second chukker. After this, El Overo tried their best to come back, but all La Ensenada had to do was protect their goals. The former team tried their best to summon a few goals, but they could not do so in time. 

Winners: La Ensenada ( 7-6 )

Qualy 2: El Cabure vs Biopolo

The second game on the same day was between El Cabure and Biopolo. The former team had a great start, but soon, Biopolo’s team caught up, and both teams were tied at 4 points each by halfway points. The next round was the deciding one, as El Cabure amassed a couple of goals in each of the upcoming two rounds, which helped them with their first win.

Winners: El Cabure ( 10-7 )

Qualy 3: Lavinia La Hache vs Biopolo 

Date: 30 September 

The next game was held after two days of rest between Lavinia La Hache and Biopolo. Biopolo hit their boost button from the start and scored five goals in the first chukker. After a disappointing start, Lavinia La Hache gradually pulled their game together, scoring some points from the second round and catching up to the opponents in the fifth round. Everyone witnessed this first thriller game as both teams remained tied by scoring equal points in the last round. Eventually, the game went into overtime, and Lavinia scored the deciding goal to overturn the game completely.

Winners: Lavinia La Hache ( 11-10 )

Qualy 4: Pilot vs La Ensenada 

The next game was between Pilot and La Ensenada. The game looked even until the halfway point, but Pilot went aggressive thereafter and scored six goals in one round to make it completely one-sided. 

Winners: Pilot ( 12-7 )

Qualy 5: Pilot vs El Overo Z7 UAE 

Date: 3 October 

After a two-day break, Pilot descended again on the ground, but this time to face El Overo Z7 UAE. In this game, Pilot was off to a blasting start, scoring goals from every direction. As a result, by the end of the fourth chukker, the game was almost over when the lead they had built reached six points, which proved enough for the win. 

Winners: Pilot ( 12-8 )

Qualy 6: Lavinia La Hache vs El Cabure 

The last qualifier was between Lavinia La Hache and El Cabure. It was a goal fest, with 28 goals scored, the highest in this edition of Copa Anfitriones. The match was pretty even until the last round, but the former team pulled off victory in this epic game by scoring at a better pace in the last couple of rounds.

Winners: Lavinia La Hache ( 15-13 )

Semi-Final 1: El Cabure vs Pilot 

Date: 7 October 

The first semi-final game was held between El Cabure and Pilot. In this epic battle, both of the teams were ready to waive the game and were perfectly matched till the end of the fifth round, scoring seven points each. In the last round, El Cabure put all efforts into fortifying their defences and controlling the ball epically to score a couple of goals to gain the lead and put Pilot on the backfoot. Finally, the bell rang, giving us our first finalists.

 Winners: El Cabure ( 9-7 )

Semi-Final 2: Lavinia La Hache vs La Ensenada 

The second semi-final game was held between Lavinia La Hache and La Ensenada. In the first three rounds, both teams were going back and forth on scoring, ending up 7-6 in favour of the former team. However, the second half of the game belonged completely to Lavinia La Hache. They performed exceptionally well utilising their teamwork, completely turned the game to their favour in the upcoming rounds, and became the second finalists. 

Winners: Lavinia La Hache ( 11-8 )

Final(Copa Polo Ranch): El Overo Z7 UAE vs Biopolo 

Date: 8 October 

Another great battle to be entitled with Copa Polo Ranch occurred between El Overo Z7 UAE and Biopolo. The former team was on point and in their game from the start and completely pulled the game to their side by building up a massive lead and maintaining it by continuing to score in every upcoming chukker. Biopolo tried catching up in the last round, but it was too late and too big of a gap to fill in such a short time.

Winners: El Overo Z7 UAE ( 10-7 )

Final: El Cabure vs Lavinia La Hache 

Date: 9 October 

The final game for the prestigious cup was held between El Cabure and Lavinia La Hache. This close encounter brought everyone to the edge of their seats. El Cabure gradually built up a lead point by point as the game progressed, but they also had to keep the opposition in check and prevent them from coping with the lead. Going into the final round, both teams scored a couple of goals, but the one-point lead El Cabure built in the previous rounds came in handy, and they won their well-deserved title of Copa Anfitriones.

Winners: El Cabure ( 13-12 )