Hand Of Pod

We're back! In the first HOP of 2022 Sam and Santi preview Argentina's World Cup qualifying double header, which will see a trip to Chile followed by a home match against Colombia. Lionel Messi isn't involved, and nor are various others (even manager Lionel Scaloni will be missing against Chile due to COVID), but the team will have a familiar look all the same.

There are still a couple of matches left in Argentine football this year, but recording seems unlikely next week so Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi got together on Friday to look back on 2021. Which clubs enjoyed the year the most, which individuals stood out in the league campaign that's just finished and, of course, do we think it was a successful year for the national team?

On this week's Hand Of Pod Sam, English Dan and Tony discuss a couple of weeks of action which included Boca Juniors lifting the Copa Argentina after a shootout win over Talleres, River Plate's long unbeaten run finally coming to an end in a thrilling game against Defensa y Justicia and the highest scoring clásico platense ever, as Gimnasia and Estudiantes drew 4–4.

This week's Hand Of Pod was recorded late in the week, because it made little sense to record before Thursday night, when River Plate did just about enough to scrape the result they needed at home to Racing to claim their thirty-seventh Argentine league title. Sam, Andrés and English Dan look back on a thoroughly convincing title win, ask what comes next for Marcelo Gallardo and tell you about Arg...

This week, Sam's voice sounds ridiculous for the first half of the episode because Santi and Andrés didn't say anything about it until the half-time break. The three of them discuss Argentina's two recent World Cup qualifiers – a 1–0 win away to Uruguay and a 0–0 draw at home to Brazil – which (together with Ecuador claiming a 2–0 win away to Chile on Tuesday night) confirmed Argentina's place at...

This week Sam and Santi look back on three weeks of action (due to Sam first being on holiday and then being very busy) during which the title race seems to have swung decisively in River Plate's favour. We wax lyrical about Julián Álvarez (Independiente fan Santi even compares him to a young Sergio Agüero) and answer some listeners' questions. We also preview Friday and Tuesday's World Cup qualif...

Allow us one indulgent episode title about ourselves rather than the football we're covering, because this week's episode was the first since March 2020 to be recorded with all of us in the same living room. Sam, English Dan and Andrés get reacquainted with one another and discuss Argentina's World Cup qualifying draw with Paraguay and wins over Uruguay and Peru before going over the last couple o...

This week's Hand Of Pod sees Sam, Santi and Andrés review a couple of rounds of league action, including River Plate's 2–1 win over Boca Juniors in Sunday's superclásico, which sent River top of the table. We also preview the upcoming World Cup qualifying triple header, in which (as long as no health authorities invade the pitch this time) Argentina will take on Paraguay in Asunción and Uruguay an...

This week, Sam and English Dan catch up with what's been going on in the three weeks since we last recorded. The main focus is on trying to unpick exactly what went on in São Paulo a couple of weeks back when the Brazil v Argentina World Cup qualifier was called off – and what do we think will happen next? We also give you a quick overview of the other World Cup qualifying matches (including yet a...

On this week's HOP Sam, English Dan and Santi preview the upcoming World Cup qualifying triple-header, and have a rant at the (partially successful) attempt by English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese clubs to distort the World Cup qualifying process.

In this week's HOP, Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi discuss a week which has seen Argentina's last two representatives – River Plate and Rosario Central – dumped out of the Copas Libertadores and Sudamericana, and look back on last weekend's Liga Profesional action.

In this week's HOP Sam, English Dan and Santi catch up on what's been going on in the two weeks since we were last able to record. It's been an OK couple of weeks for Independiente (who at least one their clásico), an underwhelming one for Boca Juniors (even though they won their clásico ... well, a shootout), a poor one for River Plate and a manager-sacking one for Racing. Much happier, though, a...

In this week's HOP, Sam, English Dan, Andrés, Santi and Tony look back on the first three rounds of action in the 2021 Liga Profesional de Fútbol, as well as on both legs of the last sixteen ties in the Copas Libertadores and Sudamericana, which have left just River Plate (in the Libertadores) and Rosario Central (in the Sudamericana) flying the flag for Argentine football in the quarters.

We can finally shout it! After a 28-year wait Argentina ended their trophy drought on Saturday with a 1–0 win over Brazil in the final of the Copa América, and Sam, English Dan, Santi and Andrés are here to look back on a final – and a tournament – that brings hope for the future and proves many critics (including us!) wrong about some players, but does demonstrate that the universe can have a hel...

After Argentina made their way past Ecuador and Colombia to reach a third Copa América final in four tournaments, Sam, English Dan and Santi preview Saturday's final against host nation Brazil, who've never failed to win a Copa on home soil.

On this week's HOP the world's newest football commentator Sam is joined by English Dan, Santi and Andrés for a look back on the group stage of the 2021 Copa América – in particular at Argentina's performances – and a preview of the quarter-finals, which kick off on Friday evening.

In the four hundredth episode of HOP, Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Tony discuss Colón's deserved victory in the final of the Copa de la Liga – their first ever national title – before reviewing the recent World Cup qualifying double header and previewing the 2021 Copa América, which kicks off in Brazil on Sunday having been moved from Argentina and Colombia for Reasons.

This week's HOP was meant to be a quick affair but ended up being a full-length episode, as Sam and Santi looked back on the final weekend of group stage action in the Copa de la Liga, look forward to this weekend's quarter-finals, including the third superclásico of the year as Boca Juniors host River Plate on Sunday afternoon, and round up the Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana action.

This week on Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan, Tony, Andrés and Santi bring you up to date with the Copa de la Liga as the group stage enters its final weekend, and also look at the Copa Libertadores group stage so far. It's news to Sam, but this year the Copa Sudamericana also has a group stage!

This week's Hand Of Pod sees Sam, English Dan and Santi review the last few weeks' main talking points in the Copa de la Liga Profesional, including Godoy Cruz's return to their own stadium and a woeful – but controversial – clásico de Avellaneda.

In this week(end)'s HOP Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi look back on the last couple of weeks of Copa de la Superliga action, including the superclásico of two weeks ago and two matches which saw the winning team hit six goals.

In this week's HOP Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi look back on two more weeks of Copa de la Liga Profesional action which have seen Colón and Estudiantes – who meet on Saturday – continue to impress, with Aldosivi and Central Córdoba (who are playing each other in Mar Del Plata as this episode is uploaded on Friday evening) also intriguing us early on. The big headline-grabber this weekend is...

On this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam, Tony and Santi look back on the first two weeks' action in the Copa de la Liga Profesional and three poor showings from Argentina in the SheBelieves Cup, as well as looking forward to the Copa América, which apparently is going to be played this year and may or may not be the first Copa América since 1991 to feature only CONMEBOL member nations.

There's sad news this week, as we kick things off with talk of Godoy Cruz striker Santiago García, who died by suicide at the weekend. Afterwards, Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Tony preview the Copa de la Liga 2021, which was changed to a cup competition rather than a league championship shortly after we recorded HOP392. We look at the summer transfer activity (such as it's been) of the Big Five an...

In this week's HOP, Sam, English Dan, Tony and Santi review three finals – the the Copa Diego Maradona, in which Boca Juniors beat Banfield on spot kicks, the women's championship final, in which Boca thrashed River Plate 7-0, and the Copa Sudamericana final, in which Defensa y Justicia claimed their first major trophy (and Hernán Crespo's first as a manager) by beating Lanús 3-0 in Córdoba. We al...