Hand Of Pod

On Wednesday Central Córdoba de Santiago del Estero became the first club from their province to win a major national title, beating Vélez Sarsfield 1–0 in a controversial Copa Argentina final. Sam, English Dan and Santi meet to review that match and to preview Sunday's two matches, which will decide whether Vélez ultimately finish a very impressive year empty handed, as they host fellow title hop...

On Saturday afternoon Racing Club beat Cruzeiro 3–1 in Asunción to lift the Copa Sudamericana, and this week Sam and Andrés are joined by not one but two Racing fans who were in attendance, as English Dan and Seba tell us what their experiences were like and help us review the match. We also look back on Argentina's recent World Cup qualifying double header, which saw a defeat away to Paraguay and...

When we recorded this week's podcast – before Vélez Sarsfield's 1–0 win over Tigre – it looked like Racing might somehow be in the title race. They're still not exactly out of it, and Sam, English Dan and Andrés discuss why that's the case, back-to-back wins for River Plate and Aldosivi securing promotion back to the top flight.

This week Sam, English Dan, Chris, Andrés and Santi look back on a week that saw Racing reach their first continental final in 32 years by beating Corinthians 2–1 in the Cilindro (in front of Dan and his son) for a 4–3 aggregate win in their Copa Sudamericana semi. In the other semi, Lanús lost (Chris was there), while Tuesday night's astonishing firework show at the Monumental was much more spect...

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés, Chris and special guest Chris Lee discuss this week's Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana semifinal first legs, then move on to last weekend's Liga Profesional fixtures and the midweek Copa Argentina matches (of which there were two, in two different rounds of the competition), among many other things.

This week Sam, English Dan, Chris and Andrés look back on a double header of CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers that saw Argentina draw a water polo match away to Venezuela before turning on the style – and seeing Lionel Messi roll back the years – with a 6–0 win over Bolivia. We also look at the qualifiers from elsewhere on the continent and talk AFA politics (again).

Sam, English Dan, Chris and Santi recorded early in the week this time, in order to preview Argentina's two Dibu Martínez-less World Cup qualifiers away to Venezuela on (hopefully) Thursday and at home to Bolivia next Tuesday. We also review the weekend's action in the Liga Profesional and ask whether the AFA are seriously about to cancel relegation from the top flight this year after all.

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Chris review a round of Liga Profesional matches that saw Talleres claim an away win over River Plate which, along with Vélez Sarsfield's 3–0 capitulation to Rosario Central a couple of days later, helped them move to within three points of top spot. We also have a look at the latest Argentina squad, news of Boca Juniors sacking their manager, Iker Muniain sc...

Sam, English Dan, Santi, Andrés and Chris got together this week to look back on a good week to be a River Plate fan, after the Millonarios edged Boca Juniors in a tetchy superclásico before getting past Colo-Colo in the Copa Libertadores. Dan is also in a good mood, having watched Racing reach their own continental semifinal in the Sudamericana – their first international semi since 1997 – and La...

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi review a weekend of Liga Profesional action that saw Vélez Sarsfield extend their lead at the top of the league to five points (the race for second place is MUCH tighter) and River Plate put an end to their run of drawing in the league and winning in the Copa Libertadores by ... winning in the league and drawing in the Copa. We also have some talk about...

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on a double header of World Cup qualifying action that saw Argentina beat Chile and lose the Copa América final rematch to Colombia, while Uruguay drew 0–0 twice in a row, Brazil continued to struggle and Bolivia – Bolivia! – were the only team to win both their games, including their first away win in World Cup qualifying since 1993.

Vélez Sarsfield have hit a fine run of form, and this week Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on a weekend that saw them open up a little daylight at the top of the league thanks to Huracán dropping points. There was a ridiculous red card for one of Godoy Cruz's medics, River Plate still can't win (or lose) domestically under Marcelo Gallardo and we've a World Cup qualifying double header to lo...

This week Sam, English Dan and Santi look back on an Avellaneda clásico that saw Independiente battle to a goalless draw away to Racing. We also discuss Vélez Sarsfield going joint top with Huracán, the possibility of Athletic Club de Bilbao legend Iker Muniain signing for San Lorenzo and plenty more besides.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés review two weeks of Liga Profesional action which saw Huracán hold on to top spot in the league while Marcelo Gallardo seemed to announce his return to River Plate by doing the same thing he always did before: winning in continental competition but struggling (or taking it less seriously?) domestically. We also have a review of the Sudamericana and Libertadore...

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi review a round of Liga Profesional action that saw a lot of draws, but Walter Bou rescued us from yet another with perhaps the best goal of the weekend anywhere in the world to give Lanús a 90th-minute winner over Tigre. Marcelo Gallardo has been unveiled as River Plate manager and as if things weren't bad enough for Independiente, cracks are appearing...

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi review last weekend's action in the Liga Profesional, which includes wiping some egg off our faces after the thing we said last week surely wouldn't actually happen – River Plate sacking Martín Demichelis – happened within hours of HOP500 going online. In other news, Argentina's Olympic team were eliminated just before we recorded, meaning Julián Álvare...

We're 500 episodes old, and to celebrate Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi got together to talk about not one but two rounds of Liga Profesional action, including a continuing crisis of identity for River Plate and the first bumps in the road for Huracán's title charge among other things. The Olympic football tournament got underway on Wednesday, and we have some thoughts about the ridiculous fas...

This week Sam, English Dan, Chris, Andrés and Santi get together to review Argentina's 2024 Copa América final victory over Colombia ... but first we have to talk about that Enzo Fernández video. And there was also all the nonsense before the final was played. In short, it's a more muted celebration than we'd been hoping to have. On a more positive note, club football is already back in South Amer...

Sunday brings yet another final for Argentina, so on Friday evening Sam, English Dan, Andrés, Chris and Santi got together to review the quarter- and semifinals of the 2024 Copa América (for all the teams) and preview the final. Listeners' questions include the possibility of England meeting Argentina in the Finalissima and how hefty Marcelo Bielsa's fine will be after his explosive press conferen...

The Copa América group stage is over, so this week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Chris review them – first in detail from Argentina's point of view and then more generally with a look at how the other sides got on, as well as previewing the knockout stage. Are Brazil going to get better? Why did the USA and Mexico disappoint? And who's the red-hot striker who led Venezuela to first place in their g...

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Chris give you a quick review of the main talking points from the last round of Liga Profesional action before the break for the Copa América and then get stuck into the main order of the day: previewing Argentina's attempt to defend their title, which kicks off when they take on Canada on Thursday evening.

This week Sam, Santi and Andrés review last weekend's Liga Profesional games, which saw a last-gasp win for leaders Racing over bottom-of-the-table Riestra. We also look (again) at Independiente's managerial situation, which took an amusing (to non-Independiente fans) turn after we discussed it two weeks ago, and talk a bit about the national team ahead of their pre-Copa América friendlies against...

This week Sam, English Dan and Chris welcome special guest Benjy Nurick, who's in town researching a book about how porteños do football. We look back on last weekend's Liga Profesional matches, including some liquid football (albeit against not the best opposition) from Racing, and review almost all of the last full week of Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana group games.

This week Sam, Andrés and (for one half only) Santi discuss the second round of Liga Profesional matches, which saw an awful lot of draws. We talk about River Plate's Copa Argentina elimination (and ongoing lack of direction) under Martín Demichelis, Carlos Tevez's departure from Independiente and Argentina's preliminary Copa América squad, among much more.

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi look back on an opening weekend of Liga Profesional action that saw Racing throw away two points in a goalfest, River Plate cruise to victory and plenty more besides. We also have a Copa Libertadores update and a short rant about the state of football journalism these days.