Dubai: Argentinian professional Juan Cruz Guevara said it was a ‘fantastic feeling’ to score all 11 goals in Julius Baer’s 11-8 semi-final win over Lindt in the tenth Julius Baer Beach Polo Cup at Skydive Dubai late on Friday.
Guevara was unstoppable as the title sponsor’s team booked a final match-up with Vista Jet Maradiva, who beat Maradiva 9-7 in the other last-four clash.
The man of the night scored 11 times during the four chukkers of the match against Lindt, who were led by fellow Argentine pro Lucas Labat’s seven goals.
“It’s a fantastic feeling to score all the goals in a match, but the better feeling now is to have the chance of playing for the trophy in the final,” Guevara told Gulf News.
The two teams were evenly matched through three of the chukkers, with Guevara keeping Julius Baer in the lead 4-3 at half-time. He added two more goals early in the third chukker to make it 6-3, only for Labat to score three on the trot as the teams went out for the final period tied at 7-7.
“It was close throughout, but we played to our strengths as a team and that saw us through in the end,” Guevara said as he went to chat with his childhood hero, football legend Diego Maradona, who was a special guest at the tournament.
Guevara had played in Mohammad Al Habtoor’s Maradiva team in last year’s final, but this year he chose the older Al Habtoor, Rashid, with his son Khalaf as the third player in the Julius Baer team.
“This year I feel we have a better chance of defending the title. Beach polo is a completely different ball game and one match out on the sand should be good enough for us to raise our performance as a team and win the title,” Guevara said ahead of Saturday night’s match-up.
