UAE Polo and Desert Palm won today their respective matches for the semifinals of the McLaren Cup held at the Al Habtoor Polo Resort and will play the final of the McLaren Cup, first trophy of the Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series 2017.
Desert Palm defeated Habtoor in OT by 8 goals to 7 and UAE beat Bin Drai by 9.5 goals to 7.
With this victories Desert Palm will play against UAE Polo next friday the grand finale of the McLaren Cup from 3pm at Al Habtoor Polo Resort.
Casually Desert Palm and UAE Polo won in the semifinals by the same result they achieved in the quarterfinal matches, played last monday. Also, Desert Palm achieved their second victory in OT in a row.
In the first semifinal of the day, UAE Polo played a great game, and again, teamwork was the clue to defeat a tough Bin Drai foursome.
UAE Polo, made up by Ali Al Merri, Jack Hyde, Matías Benoit and Guillermo Terrera, played three chukkers (2nd, 3rd and 4th) at a very high level to leave Bin Drai without options to react.
Despite the two goals scored by Bin Drai in the last chukker, UAE Polo victory was insured and the deserved ticket to the final came with the 9.5 to 7 triumph.
Match progression UAE Polo: 1.5-2/ 5.5-3/ 8.5-3/ 9.5-5/ 9.5-7
In the second match of the day, Desert Palm and Habtoor Polo played a much even game with the control of the actions and the score divided for each side in almost all of the chukkers.
The equal opportunities they had took the game to an extra chukker. It was a penalty, from the 40 yards scored by Santiago Laborde, that gave Desert Palm the victory and the remaining place in the great final of the McLaren Cup.
Nicolás Pieres (Habtoor Polo) was the top scorer of the match with 5 goals and Alejo Taranco, with 4, the top scorer in the winning team.
Match progression Desert Palm: 1-2/ 4-3/ 5-3/ 5-6/ 7-7/ 8-7
The McLaren Cup final will be held on Friday at the Al Habtoor Polo Resort from 3 pm with UAE Polo vs Desert Palm. From 1 pm, the Hildon Cup will be played between Mahra Polo Team and Zedan Polo.