Hand Of Pod

In the hundred and ninety-second episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam is joined by Andrés and Remi to look back on a week which saw Boca Juniors strengthen their position at the top of the league with a backs-to-the-wall win away to Belgrano after San Lorenzo had dropped points against Godoy Cruz. River Plate's reserves beat Colón, but the main focus of River's week was Wednesday night's Copa Libertadores...

The hundred and ninety-first episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés in a good mood after River Plate's qualification for the final of the Copa Libertadores for the first time in 19 years. A 1-1 draw with Guaraní in Asunción, with Marcelo Gallardo signings Tabaré Viudez and Lucas Alario combining for the crucial goal, proved decisive and next week River will face Tigres of Mexico in the first l...

The hundred-and-nintieth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam joined by Andrés, Fede and long-time HOP listener but first-time HOP contributor Johnny to look back over an eventful week. Boca Juniors leapfrogged San Lorenzo into top spot in the league, getting a gritty 1-0 win away to Sarmiento after both San Lorenzo and River Plate had been held to draws earlier in the weekend. For River, at least, the...

Hand Of Pod returns as the Argentine Primera gears up to enter the second half of 2015. Sam and Andrés are here to review Argentina's Copa América campaign, which saw a second major final in a year, but a second disappointment at the last hurdle. Where do the national team go from here, which players matched up to expectations, who fell short and which younger stars should perhaps be given a chanc...

The hundred and eighty-eighth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, Andrés and English Dan gather for an uncharacteristically early recording session, defying a national strike to see to it that you get your weekly dose of nonsense. We begin with a look at the last weekend of action in the Argentine Primera, in which San Lorenzo's lead at the top was cut by Boca Juniors with a thumping 4-0 win at home...

In the hundred and eighty-seventh episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Andrés and Gustavo meet to discuss the penultimate weekend of Primera División action before the league breaks for the Copa América. San Lorenzo are out on their own at the top due to a win over Quilmes combined with Boca Juniors losing for a second successive week, this time away to Vélez Sarsfield. River Plate got a slightly controve...

In the hundred and eighty-sixth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam is joined by Andrés to discuss another lively week. There's talk about the reaction in Argentina to this week's FIFA arrests in Zurich, and how they affect Argentina (oh, how we wish Julio Grondona had lived long enough to have been bundled into the back of one of those electric cars), though we're sceptical about how much will change. We...

The hundred and eighty-fifth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Peter talking about the only thing anyone in Argentine football has been discussing in the last few days - the pepper spray-and-acid attack by the Boca Juniors barra brava on River Plate's players which saw the second half of the Copa Libertadores quarter-final superclásico called off, and Boca disqualified from this year's competiti...

In the hundred and eighty-fourth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Peter and Andrés look back on a goal-laden weekend of Primera División action, and on last week's Copa Libertadores last sixteen first leg between River Plate and Boca Juniors. We consider what River's 1-0 win means for Thursday night's return leg, and domestically we discuss Crucero del Norte's uselessness, Belgrano's and Rosario Centr...

In the hundred and eighty-third episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés are joined by Mariano, returning to the pod after a long absence, and new boy Federico, the second of our newly-acquired tame Boca Juniors fans. We look back on Boca's 2-0 win over River Plate on Sunday in the league, and review the rest of the weekend's action as well - including some thoughts from Mariano on San Lorenzo's dec...

In the hundred and eight-first episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Andrés and Joel are joined by new boy - and Boca Juniors fan - Julian in an exciting week in Buenos Aires, as we gear up to watch three clashes between River Plate and Boca Juniors in just eleven days; two in the Copa Libertadores last 16, and first of all one in the league this Sunday. We discuss how both sides have come to be sitting jo...

In the hundred and eighty-first episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Peter look back on a weekend of action that left River Plate and Boca Juniors joint top of the table as they prepare to head into their clash at La Bombonera on the 3rd May (there are no matches this weekend). The two will also clash twice after that in the last 16 of the Copa Libertadores, but we'll do a full pre...

The hundred and eightieth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés joined by new boy Remi, who brings a continental European air of sophistication (and a typically Dutch manner of speaking against received wisdom) to the podcast. We discuss the results over the weekend which led to Boca Juniors, River Plate, San Lorenzo and Rosario Central to all be tied on 21 points at the top, look at an emoti...

The hundred and seventy-ninth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés discuss referee Germán Delfino's decision to rescind a penalty and red card seemingly on television evidence during Vélez Sarsfield's 2-1 win over Arsenal de Sarandí on Saturday - what happened, and how have the Argentine media tried in places to twist the story? Other topics on this episode are River Plate's weekend clásico...

The hundred and seventy-eighth episode of Hand Of Pod is a whopper, but with off-pitch trouble, plenty of goals in a week when the league leadership changed hands, Daniel Osvaldo's on-pitch trolling, two national team friendlies and a new regular Argentine football history section to include, how could it be any other way? We discuss San Lorenzo's thrashing of Lanús and River Plate's last-gasp win...

The hundred and seventy-seventh episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés discussing a weekend of Primera action that was notable for late goals deciding the outcomes of matches, and for Rosario Central's perfect start to the campaign coming to an end with a draw away to the bottom club, Atlético de Rafaela (Central remain top, though). Argentinos Juniors' unbeaten record came spectacularly undon...

In the hundred and seventy-sixth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Andrés and Santi look back over a goal-packed weekend of Primera action in which only four sides out of the thirty managed to keep clean sheets (and two of those were in the same game). River Plate's problems continued but they battled back to a 3-3 draw with Arsenal, whilst Rosario Central remain top of the league with a 100% record co...

In the hundred and seventy-fifth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Andrés and Peter discuss another weekend of action which included an amazing 53-yard lob from San Lorenzo's Pablo Barrientos, River Plate throwing away a 2-0 lead to draw with Unión, and Boca Juniors being held away to Colón. Rosario Central, meanwhile, have won four out of four under rookie manager Eduardo Coudet, whilst their cross-ci...

The hundred and seventy-fourth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, Peter and Andrés begin with a discussion of yet more violence affecting Argentine football, after a weekend marred by a running street battle involving the barra brava of fourth division club Laferrere which left 2 policemen seriously injured. We then move on to review last weekend's action in the Primera División and the last few Arg...

The hundred and seventy-third episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam joined by Peter, Andrés and Jon Gilbert to discuss the second weekend of Argentina's monster new Primera. River Plate were held in a lively 2-2 draw with Quilmes, Boca Juniors made it two league wins out of two and champions Racing have just one point from their first two matches, but there's a long way to go yet. We also discuss the Li...

The 2015 Monster Championship has begun, and in the hundred and seventy-second episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Santi and Peter convene to look back on the first weekend of action. Champions Racing got off to a losing start, Independiente edged a five-goal thriller, whilst things were rather more pedestrian for River Plate, Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo, who all recorded routine wins. The first manager...

Hand Of Pod returns from the summer break with our first episode of 2015. Sam, Andrés, Peter and Gustavo preview Argentina's controversial new 30-team top flight in this episode. Which teams have done best and worst in the transfer market, who's already had some form of competitive action to get warmed up for the task ahead, and should Argentine sides be expected to make waves in this year's Copa...

The hundred and seventieth episode of Hand Of Pod is our last of 2014, and we leave on an unexpected note: Racing Club managed not to racinguear on Sunday, and are the new champions of Argentina. Sam and Andrés, River Plate fans, are for once outnumbered by Racing fans; English Dan, Ilan and the prodigal son of Hand Of Pod, Seba García. We discuss Racing's fine end-of-championship form to lift the...

The hundred and sixty-ninth episode of Hand Of Pod is going online rather late this week, mostly because Sam's computer was out of order for a while, delaying the editing process. In it, Sam and Andrés discuss River Plate's long-awaited return to international glory, after they claimed their first international trophy in seventeen years by winning the Copa Sudamericana (the continent's second most...

The hundred and sixty-eighth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, Andrés and Peter recording in Sam's new living room, with the traffic noise of Avenida Santa Fe drifting in through the (closed) windows. There's plenty to discuss, because it's been a week since River Plate saw off Boca Juniors 1-0 in an epic Copa Sudamericana semi-final clash, and just a day (at the time of recording) since they secur...