Semi-finals: a battle to the bitter end. Gstaad Palace and Kielder Agro Group advance to the final.

The Hublot Polo Gold Cup 2024 semi-finals certainly lived up to expectations in terms of suspense, for none of the semi-finalists managed to dominate their matches. For both, the outcome remained undecided until the final moments, yet they were two matches with very different faces.

Once again, Argentina’s Raul Laplacette was decisive in the Gstaad Palace victory ©R&B Presse / P.Renauldon

The game between Gstaad Palace and Hublot was one of considerable offense, while the other between Kielder Agro Group and J.Safra Sarasin was rather defensive. Paradoxically, there were more goals in the latter, but the truth is most of these goals were scored on penalties. For Gstaad Palace, the chemistry between the Meier brothers and Laplacette cousins proved, once again, to be an effective advantage.

Even so, it was a fierce battle until the final moments, as Gstaad Palace’s top scorer, Switzerland’s Luca Meier pointed out: “The last minute was very long when Hublot came back into the game. We made a lot of mistakes, and that was our problem. Our luck ran dry and we won by a small goal, 7-6…but yes, that last minute was tough. I’m happy to have scored those four goals, although it was more complicated today because the pitch was more coarse than yesterday when I scored three. The ball was harder to control because it was bouncing all over the place, but it turned out well in the end.”

The Gstaad Palace striker was keen to highlight Raul Laplacette’s role in their victory: “Since he’s won the last two editions of the Hublot Polo Gold Cup, we thought it would be a good idea to recruit him this year. It’s very natural to play with the Laplacettes. We’ve known them since we were kids because in Argentina we have our polo facilities in the same village, in Lobos, so we’ve always rubbed shoulders”.

More complicated than expected for England’s Max Charlton and Kielder Agro Group against Tete Fanelli and J. Safra Sarasin, he nevertheless secured his place in the final ©R&B Presse / P.Renauldon

In the following semi-final, the key player was Max Charlton. The Englishman had a slightly different strategy in this game compared to Raul Laplacette, turning up the pressure cooker by forcing himself and his teammates to stay as close to their opponents as possible in an effort to provoke a foul. This approach proved to be successful, albeit rather crowded, and their win today didn’t come as easily as it had on Thursday, as J.Safra Sarasin’s opposition was stronger than expected.

“We were confident but it was a complicated victory in the end,” captain Philipp Müller admitted. “First, it took us a while to get the right rhythm. Everything went pretty well after that, but we realized that we couldn’t take anything for granted in the last chukker. They leveled our score at less than a minute and then a penalty was whistled in our favor. That is what ultimately saved us. It was an intense match with a lot of fouls, and maybe not the most beautiful match, but the main thing is to be in the final.”

This final will be a dual between Swiss captains!

See you on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. for the final between these two teams who have yet to meet: and we are on the edge of our seats. Who will be the four players to leave Gstaad donning a magnificent Hublot watch on their wrist? We’ll have the answer around 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. The final will be preceded by the third-place play-off at 1:30 p.m.

Match 1

Gstaad Palace: Fabio Meier 1, Luca Meier 1 (4 goals), Adrien Laplacette 6 (2 goals) and Raul Laplacette 6 (1 goals)

Hublot: Jurgen Schröder 0 (3 goals), Juan Correa 3 (1 goal), Pedro Fernandez Llorente 5 (2 goals), Manuel Fernandez Llorente 6

Progression Gstaad Palace: 3-2 / 5-2 / 6-3 et 7-6

Match 2

Kielder Agro Group: Philipp Mueller 0, Jaime Robert 3 (2 goals) Nacho Gonzales 4 and Max Charlton 6 (7 goals)

J. Safra Sarasin: Françoise Okala 0, Bautista Fanelli 3 (1 goal), Horacio Fernandez Llorente 6 (1 goals) and Tete Fanelli 5 (6 goals)

Progression Kielder Agro Group: 0-2 / 3-4 / 7-6 / 9-8

Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad