Polo in the Pampas

His own path

Poroto earns a spot in next Triple Crown

By Lucas Noel • Photos by Sergio Llamera

Brazilian Rodrigo Ribeiro de Andrade outpaces Manuel Elizalde in the final of the Cámara de Diputados Cup.

Early in the season, everything suggested ‘Poroto’ Cambiaso would have a place next season as a starter of La Dolfina along with his father Adolfo. That was until he won the Cámara de Diputados Cup with La Dolfina Brava, surpassing the play-off and earning the team a coveted spot in this year’s Triple Crown.

At age 14, Poroto became the youngest player in history to participate in the Triple Crown. The possibility was given to him by his father when he was chosen to substitute for the injured Juan Martín Nero on La Dolfina. The decision aroused controversy in the Argentine polo world when the association suddenly raised his handicap by two goals, enabling him to play. Eduardo Novillo Astrada, president of the association, admitted the decision included not just sporting considerations but marketing as well.

What is certain is once the season began, Poroto took charge of burying any discussion about his rating with a daring and quality rarely seen for a polo player of his age. Now, 15 years old, the son of the best player in the world managed to lift the Cámara de Diputados Cup with his team La Dolfina Brava and obtained the qualification for the Tortugas, Hurlingham and Palermo Opens, thanks to a resounding victory in the playoff.

At the association’s Alfredo Lalor Complex in Pilar, LD Brava won its group undefeated in the Cámara de Diputados Cup. It debuted, beating Chapa Uno Thai Polo (Juan Zubiaurre, Bautista Ortiz de Urbina, Julián de Lusarreta, Alfonso Pieres), 15-12, then defeated El Overo UAE (Lucas Monteverde, Tomás Panelo, Guillermo Willington, Jacinto Crotto), 12-8, and La Cañada (Genaro Ringa, Lucas Diaz Alberdi, Victorino Ruiz Jorba, Martin Aguerre), 13-6. In the semifinals it turned an incredible match and won with two fantastic goals from Poroto: the tying goal at 6:22

of the last chukker and the golden goal just eight seconds into the overtime to overcome Trenque Lauquen (Alejandro Muzzio, Juan Jauretche, Santiago Laborde, Jaime Garcia Huidobro), 12-11.

In the final match it suffered much less. The clash against Chapa II (Alberto Heguy, Manuel Elizalde, Peke González, Tomas Beresford) was extremely favorable for the Cañuelas quartet. Isidro Strada showed a strong solidity in the back of the pitch and the Brazilian duo Pedro Zacharías and Rodrigo Ribeiro de Andrade dominated every action. Poroto had a crushing afternoon and scored half of his team’s goals for the 16-7 win.

The two lowest ranked of the 10 Argentine Open teams are eliminated (La Irenita and La Irenita II). The winner of the Cámara then challenges the eighthranked team in a playoff for the final spot in next year’s Triple Crown. LD Brava ousted Cría Geté (Joaquin Pittaluga, Cristian Laprida, Tomás Garcia del Rio, Ignacio Laprida), 13-8. With Tomas Garcia del Rio (7) replacing Valerio Zubiaurre (8), Cría Geté still showed three more handicap goals than Brava (31 vs. 28). The key to the match was in the third chukker when the formation led by Cristian ‘Magoo’ Laprida gave up a four-point lead that it could never overcome. Eliminated teams can try to rejoin through the qualifier tournament.

The triumph of the now third La Dolfina team in the Argentine Open lineup astonished most people by the ease with which it was achieved. It surpassed its opponent by five goals, knocking it out of the next Triple Crown, and for the first time since this promotion match has been played, the victory corresponded to the team that came from the Cámara.

“It is awesome. I want to play the Open with this team. We are friends and we get along very well. The game against Cría Geté was complicated, they had a great performance. It is a team that managed to reach the semifinals in Palermo. We knew that we had to play focused, and luckily we even reached the last chukker with a good difference and were able to maintain it,” explained Poroto. His father celebrated as much or more than the day before when he defeated Ellerstina in the final of the Argentine Open.

The journey of father and son is superlatively similar. In 1994, Adolfo set a record when he amounted to 10 goals at 19 years and 8 months. After the modification of handicaps at the end of this season, Poroto established an almost equally impressive mark: 8 goals at the age of 15. It can be an even greater achievement if you consider that shortly

Poroto Cambiaso, 15, scored half of his team’s goals in the 16-7 Cámara de Diputados Cup victory over Indios Chapaleufú II.