A golden goal from the stick of Adolfo Cambiaso secured the Dubai team’s place in next weekend’s Cartier Queen’s Cup quarter-finals. However it has to be said that Dubai did not win the game, but Les Lions lost it in the second half on their home ground.  I write this because Les Lions were clearly in control of the game in the first half,  leading 7-3 at the end of the second. The Merlos brothers were in great form, while Cambiaso and team-mate Ignacio Heguy were struggling to find their form, even failing to convert penalties.

The teams’ fortunes changed in the second half though with Dubai, for the first time, suddenly realising that maybe this game wasn’t all over for them. Goals from Rashid Albwardy ( a double), Heguy and Cambiaso in the fourth, to only two in reply from Sebastian Merlos closed the gap to 13-11 going into the final chukka. Les Lions knew that with Cambiaso in the game they couldn’t afford to let their guard down for a minute otherwise he would pounce, which he did. So when Les Lions then failed to score at all in the sixth, and Heguy produced a double, it was golden goal time.

Within a minute of the seventh chukka starting though, play came to a halt when Les Lions’ patron Joachim Gottschalk was injured in the face by a ball. After medical attention on the field, he returned to the field, bloodied but unbowed. Cambiaso was not feeling sympathetic though and taking advantage of a melee in Les Lions’ goal, scored to put Dubai ahead for the first time in the match and win them game. They are now guaranteed a quarter-final place as they finish second in League Four behind Cortium.