Hand Of Pod

In the ninety-second episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam and English Dan are joined by Mariano the San Lorenzo fan to discuss a Torneo Final second round with one outstanding result; ten-man Independiente's shock victory over champions Vélez Sarsfield. Away from Liniers, there were wins for both Lanús and River Plate, who go joint top of the nascent Final table, a win against Racing, inspired by Luciano V...

In the ninety-first episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Joel look back on an opening weekend of Torneo Final action that Sam and Joel thoroughly enjoyed, and which English Dan missed almost all of. We discuss an unconvincing win for Vélez Sarsfield as they seek to defend their title, and rather more emphatic victories for Tigre and Lanús, among others. Joel attended a thriller in La Bombo...

In the ninetieth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Dan and Joel preview the 2013 Torneo Final, which kicks off with Unión hosting Arsenal de Sarandí on Friday evening. We discuss Fernando Gago's move to Vélez Sarsfield - easily the most spectacular signing of the summer - and what Vélez's chances are of retaining their title, as well as talking about Racing's transfer window departures, River Plate's r...

Hand Of Pod is back, and Sam, Joel and English Dan welcome 2013 with a nice laid-back chat about nothing in particular. There's just the news that one of the most powerful men in world football will leave his charge of the AFA in 2015, a bunch of (admittedly often tiresome) transfer gossip from the summer and various other issues to mop up, including the ongoing saga of where (or whether) Juan Rom...

The eighty-eighth episode of Hand Of Pod is the last one of 2012, and sees Sam, Dan and Joel analysing Vélez Sarsfield's 2012 Torneo Inicial title win, which was confirmed on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Unión de Santa Fe whilst nearest challengers Lanús lost 1-0 away to River Plate. The roles of manager Ricardo Gareca and forward Facundo Ferreyra are discussed, as well as some of Vélez's other cruc...

One subject looms large over this week's (belated) episode of Hand Of Pod, the eighty-seventh since we started. Sam, English Dan and Joel discuss Ramón Díaz's emotional return to the club he loves and which loves him, River Plate, after Matías Almeyda was fired in the extremely early hours of Wednesday morning/late hours of Tuesday night. What Díaz's return means for River, whether Almeyda really...

This week's Hand Of Pod is the eighty-sixth episode, and as Seba rightly points out early on, eighty-six is an important number for Argentine football, not least for being the year which saw the event from which we take our name. Sam, Joel and Seba discuss an ever-tightening title race, a thrilling showing from Racing's young forward trio, more crowd trouble at Independiente and at the Santa Fe de...

The eighty-fifth episode of Hand Of Pod sees us turn two years old, and to celebrate the fact that we're still here we recorded in Seba's very plush office. We discuss the likelihood of Juan Román Riquelme returning to action for Boca Juniors in the new year, and some of the local league action - but not much, since we were recording part way through the midweek round of matches - and the Argentin...

In the eighty-fourth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Joel are joined again by that doyen of football journalism, Jonathan Wilson to look back on an eventful weekend in the Torneo Inicial title race which saw Newell's Old Boys' lead at the top cut to just one point ahead of Vélez Sarsfield, and two ahead of major surprise package Belgrano de Córdoba. We look at impressive performances...

In the eighty-third episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Joel are joined by Jonathan Wilson, who helps us review Sunday's superclásico, which ended in a 2-2 draw between River Plate and Boca Juniors thanks to a late equaliser from Julio César Falcioni's teacher's pet Walter Erviti. We also look at Newell's Old Boys' win over champions Arsenal de Sarandí, and at Racing's away loss to Vélez...

In the eighty-second episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan, Joel and Ed run their critical eyes over the biggest clash of last weekend, Racing v Newell's (2nd v 1st), and explain why we enjoyed it even though many who weren't there thought it wasn't such a great game on TV. We discuss the continued development of an interesting title race, before moving on to the biggest match of the year in Ar...

The eighty-first episode of Hand Of Pod is another bumper one, with a look back on Argentina's 3-0 dispatching of Uruguay last Friday and Tuesday's hard-fought 2-1 win away to Chile, as well as the main World Cup qualifying results in the rest of the CONMEBOL region, including an impressive Radamel Falcao García- and James Rodríguez-inspired win over Paraguay for Colombia. We then move on to the d...

Episode 80 of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, English Dan and Joel welcome guest Ed Malyon to Buenos Aires, and in a bumper episode we go through last weekend's Torneo Inicial action - which included a woeful loss for Boca Juniors, a very impressive win for leaders Newell's Old Boys and a thumping 5-0 victory for River Plate against Godoy Cruz. We also answer listeners' questions on the sons of ex players c...

The seventy-ninth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, Dan and Joel meet to discuss a goal-filled weekend. There were thirty-five goals in ten matches, and Joel drew the short straw and managed to pick what turned out to be the only goalless draw of the round to attend. We wonder how anyone could possibly have doubted Matías Almeyda's position at River Plate (ahem), consider yet more ridiculous pressu...

In the seventy-eighth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Dan and Joel return to discuss last weekend's Torneo Inicial action, and the fallout. Racing beat River Plate in the derby, and Matías Almeyda's job security - as well as the bit of a non-story about quotes from his autobiography finally reaching Europe - are up for discussion. We also look at Newell's Old Boys' excellent form as they top the tabl...

In the seventy-seventh episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Dan and Joel begin life without Australian Dan with another bumper episode, during which we look at the increasing impatience towards River Plate and Racing managers Matías Almeyda and Luís Zubeldía ahead of the clásico between the two clubs this weekend. We also recount last Friday's hilarious press conference at La Bombonera in which Juan Román...

The seventy-sixth episode of Hand Of Pod is a sad affair, being as it is Australian Dan's final appearance as a full HOP-er. As well as discussing this momentous event, we also find time for less important things, such as Argentina's latest World Cup qualifying double-header and last weekend's league action, which saw none of the top NINE win their matches, and in particular a brilliant 3-3 draw b...

The seventy-fifth episode of Hand Of Pod is a bumper one ahead of Friday evening's World Cup qualifier in Córdoba between Argentina and Paraguay. Gearing up for that match, we've got Asunción resident Ralph Hannah on to tell us what's been going on with the Paraguayan national team, and also take a look at the Argentine side and their chances. There's a full weekend of league games in Argentina as...

In the seventy-fourth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Dan, Joel and Dan are joined by Mariano, our tamed San Lorenzo fan, once again as we dissect an underwhelming weekend of Primera División action marked mainly by River Plate's somewhat tiresome reaction to their own incompetence in last weekend's 0-0 draw against San Lorenzo. We also look at a tax scandal involving player transfers (not only invol...

The seventy-third episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, Dan and Dan welcome tamed San Lorenzo fan Mariano back to the podcast for his third appearance. We take the opportunity to ask him to get us up to date on San Lorenzo's current very confused off-pitch situation, as well as getting his thoughts on how the team have started the season. We look at a thumping win for Racing in the Avellaneda derby aga...

In the seventy-second episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Dan, Dan and Joel look back on Argentina's 3-1 friendly win over Germany hours before, and consider just how little we learned about Argentina from it. We have a Lionel Messi stat-off, before moving on to consider the lowest-scoring round of football in the Argentine Primera División in just over a decade. We wonder who owns Ignacio Piatti, exactl...

In the seventy-first episode of Hand Of Pod, we celebrate Joel Richards' liberation from his building after he was locked in during last week's episode. We also look back at an eventful first weekend of action in the Torneo Inicial, which included opening weekend losses for both Boca Juniors and River Plate, as well as a very impressive win - against very poor opposition - for Vélez Sarsfield. We...

The seventieth episode of Hand Of Pod brings a preview of the new season, which for the first time sees the Torneos Apertura and Clausura renamed Inicial and Final, and will see only one champion at the end of the season. Well, that was how it was going to be when we recorded. AFA have since decided there will be a champion at the end of each. Hmm. We discuss the main transfer ins and outs of the...

Episode 69 of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, Australian Dan and Joel joined by Christian, a Brazilian who exudes a quiet academic authority over the podcast. He's writing a thesis on us. Sort of. We discuss our various holidays briefly, before diving into what we can remember (and mis-remember) of the last couple of weeks, including Juan Román Riquelme's decision to leave Boca Juniors, River Plate's excell...

The sound on the sixty-eighth episode of Hand Of Pod is bad. We apologise for this, but there's not a lot we could do about it. Sam and English Dan meet via Skype to discuss the final weekend of the 2012 Torneo Clausura, which saw Tigre survive (and thus enter the Copa Sudamericana) and Arsenal de Sarandí claim the first top flight title in their history. San Lorenzo and San Martín are in the rele...