Buenos Aires
Of every country in the world, Argentina is home to the most registered polo players. In the professional World Polo Tour’s top 50 rankings, 45 are Argentinian.
The Argentine Polo Association is currently hosting the 131st Campeonato Argentino Abierto de Polo, or the Argentine Open Championship — one of the most important polo tournaments in the world. The Argentine Open began on Nov. 1 and continues throughout the month, ending on Dec. 7. This is one of three opens that are played as a part of the Master’s tournament, where the winner earns 300 points.
The La Hache polo team won the previous championship — the Abierto del Tortugas — 14-13 against a top Argentinian team, Ellerstina. The team persevered during their first game of the 2024 Argentine Open, winning 20-12 against La Aguada on Nov. 3.
On Nov. 2, La Hache Cría & Polo won the opening match 12-10 against Indios Chapaleufú Vista Energy. However, the team had a rough matchup later in the tournament against the reigning champions, La Natividad, losing 6-22 on Nov. 8. La Natividad has a star-studded squad, including world No. 2 Facundo Pieres, and have won both their matches so far.
La Dolfina Saudi defeated Cria La Dolfina 20-10 in the most recent matchup on Nov. 10. Juan Martín Nero helped lead La Dolfina Saudi to victory, scoring six goals. His teammate, Poroto Cambiaso — also known as Adolfo Cambiaso Jr., the son of the legendary polo player and previous-Argentine-Open-winner Adolfo Cambiaso — also scored six goals.
Though La Natividad won in 2023 and is starting strong in the 2024 Open, La Dolfina Saudi and many other teams are hungry for the win. The next match is on Nov. 15, featuring La Hache Cría & Polo and La Aguada, and the teams will continue fighting for a spot in the Dec. 7 finals.
London
The Stamford Bridge stadium hosted a London derby on Sunday, Nov. 10, where the Premier League’s third-place Chelsea Football Club drew 1-1 against fourth-place Arsenal Football Club.
Entering Sunday’s game, the teams were evenly matched in the league table, both with 5-3-2 records and 18 points each. The only difference between the two teams were their goal difference — Arsenal’s was six, while Chelsea’s was eight, ranking the Blues higher.
The game itself proved the teams are neck-and-neck. Chelsea’s star player Cole Palmer almost gave the team an early lead, but Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya made a much-needed save to keep the game goalless, and it remained that way until halftime.
The first goal came from winger Gabriel Martinelli in the 60th minute, giving Arsenal the lead. However, Chelsea-summer-signing Pedro Neto was able to respond with an assist from Enzo Fernández, tying the game 1-1 in the 70th minute.
Neither team could break the deadlock for the remainder of the match, adding a draw to both of their overall records and leaving them tied at 5-4-2.
Chelsea’s next match is against No. 15-ranked Leicester City Football Club on Nov. 23, and Arsenal will play the fifth-place Nottingham Forest Football Club on the same day.
Berlin
Europe’s basketball fanbase has been growing consistently over the past 10 years — almost 50% of urban Europeans have had a rising interest in basketball. With this growing interest, many Europeans turn to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
On Nov. 12, Alba Berlin, last in 18th, played against Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, in 13th, for round nine of EuroLeague play. However, despite its ranking, the matchup was Berlin’s time to shine.
During their matchup, Alba Berlin closely outperformed Olimpia Milano in a variety of aspects with their top performers — Berlin guard Gabriele Procida scored 29 points, while Milano’s forward Nikola Mirotic scored 28. Berlin had more assists and offensive rebounds per top player, while also having a higher three-point percentage.
Berlin trailed in the first quarter 19-23 and stayed behind in the second 43-55. In the third quarter, Berlin outshot Milano 26-22 but still fell short at the end of it, finishing 69-77. Alba managed to overcome the deficit, tying 92-92 and forcing overtime.
With five minutes on the clock, Trevion Williams started overtime with two free throws, but in a similar position, Mirotic also had two free throws, tying the score again. After an intense ending with a lot of back and forth, Alba Berlin held on to win 105-101, a third win in ten games so far.
On Thursday, Nov. 14, Alba Berlin traveled south to play fellow Germans Bayern Munich, losing 115-86.
Former Boston Celtics guard Carsen Edwards put up 25 points for Munich and Devin Booker — brother of former Washington Wizard Trevor Booker — had 18 on a night where Bayern shot for 54.5% from the three-point line with 33 attempts.
Berlin only trailed by a point in the first quarter with the score at 28-27, but the gap opened to 20 at 62-42 in the second. Bayern doubled their lead by the end of the third at 96-56 and the last quarter felt like a formality for the Munich team, where Berlin won 30-19 for a final score of 115-86.
Matteo Spagnolo led Berlin in points with 23, while Williams followed with 16 points.
Alba Berlin are back in EuroLeague action against Real Madrid next on Nov. 21.
Contact Isabella D’Erasmo at [email protected]
