Women’s Polo World Cup: Argentina plays the final in Palermo against the United States, another of the three most powerful countries in that sport

“I know I have the best team. I know, because we have been working for 45 days. We weren’t so lucky in the horse draw, but look: with attitude, there it is,” he said Thursday. Milo Fernandez Araujothe technical director of the Argentina in it first Women’s Polo World Cup. Their team had just beaten Italy in the semifinal and qualified for the definition. who will star this Saturday, from 16against USA in the Argentine Polo Field. 

For the players and for those who work in general in women’s polo it will be a great event. This afternoon there will be a world champion, and in the most important venue in this sport, something that a few years ago seemed quite unlikely, if anyone even imagined it. You can freely enter a property that had surprising numbers of viewers in the three dates developed there. Y new public, which celebrates every minimally prominent gaming action. For those neophytes, the contest has a peculiarity: the players’ helmets are completely covered by a fabric of one colordetermined according to the position they occupy on the court, for easy identification. The numbers 1 (of both sets) are those that have green; the two, blue; the 3, redand the 4, black. 

The Americans, who like the Argentines were second in their zone, had to work much harder in their semifinal, which they won by a tight 4-3 against England. Consequently, the the English and the Italians will compete for third placea while before, at 2:30 p.m. Lilian Lequerica, Audry Persano, Jenna Davis and Erica Gandomcar are the other finalists, and the last obstacle for the Argentines in their attempt to be world champions.SERGIO FLAME

The hosts and the Americans have already met face to face, but in a training match. When the organization of the championship, which belongs to the International Polo Federation (in this case it is supported by the Argentine Polo Association for the preparation), assigned a batch of horses by lottery to each selected team, each team had the animals available for a practice match before the World Cup, on the Pilar property of the AAP. It was then that the now finalists shared a court. 

Then, already in competition, the local team made its way with three European opponents with the letter i as the initial: Irelandwhich he surpassed by 7-3, Englandagainst the one who rescued in 3-3 in extremis, and Italywhom he overwhelmed with the 7 to 0.5 from Thursday. And the United States, for its part, defeated Brazil for 7 to 3.5fell into the hands of the Italians for 4.5 to 4 and beat the English for the aforementioned 4 to 3also two days ago.

Argentina and the United States are two of the three most powerful countries in the pole; the remainder is England. In this first Women’s World Cup, however, the odds are matched: it is played by handicapthat is, with goal advantage for the weaker team in every match. The cap is 16 points. of valuation per set, for which the best players on the planet are missing. As in this case both contestants have the same handicap, the score will be 0-0 when the first ball of the game is thrown.

The Albiceleste team will repeat this afternoon the formation with which they beat Ireland and Italy: Agustina Imaz, Azucena Uranga, Catalina Lavinia and Paulina Vasquetto. In the middle, an alternative line-up drew with the English. “The group that was put together is tremendous. Against England, win or lose, we were through, and we wanted everyone to play. This is the starting team, but we wanted the entire seedbed to play in the first World Cup”, explained Fernandez Araujo. 

The albiceleste figure is Lavinia, a 6-goal female handicap and 16 years old. “I did not expect this Argentine performance before the World Cup. It was going to be rude, rebravo. But with the fans and everything, the World Cup is great. This celebration is great, because we reached the final. But hopefully on Saturday there will be even more celebration”, the number 3 counted almost euphorically a few minutes after the win in the semifinal. 

Compact of the semifinal Argentina 7 vs. Italy 0.5

Both matches will take place on the field 2 of Palermo and they will have Martín Aguerre and Rafael Silva as judges, and Martín Haurie as referee. Tickets will be free.