Hand Of Pod

In the two hundred and ninety-first episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Julián get together over a mate and some biscuits to discuss a weekend of Superliga action in which Boca Juniors saw the title race swing decisively their way (surely this time, this is it?) after Godoy Cruz were held by Banfield. Elsewhere, River Plate are now so good that even their reserves can win at a canter ......

The two hundred and ninetieth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam joined by Peter and Andrés to look back on a weekend of Superliga action in which the remaining three relegation spots were all decided, and the title race one last breath of life given to it thanks to Godoy Cruz's sixth consecutive win and Boca Juniors' second consecutive defeat. River Plate's efficient form continues, and we look at w...

The two hundred and eighty-ninth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, English Dan and Andrés meet to discuss a weekend of action in the Superliga which saw Boca Juniors' defeat to Defensa y Justicia on Saturday throw the door wide open for Talleres and San Lorenzo ... and Talleres and San Lorenzo both fail completely to take advantage. There's a new second place team thanks to Godoy Cruz tonking San L...

The two hundred and eighty-eighth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés meet to discuss a weekend of Superliga action which saw the title race all but ended by Pablo Pérez's 92nd minute winner for Boca Juniors against second placed Talleres. Why did he argue with Boca's fans immediately afterwards? Why didn't Carlos Tevez play that game? These are among the questions we answer. Elsewhere, Riv...

Welcome to a special free preview of Hand Of Pod Extra. HOP Extra will be a weekly mini podcast available to supporters who put in enough to reach the appropriate reward tier on our upcoming Patreon page (which is not yet live). Sam will record a short bit each Sunday evening summarising the main talking points of the weekend. We wanted to give you an idea before launching the Patreon of what this...

The two hundred and eighty-seventh episode of Hand Of Pod was recorded on Tuesday evening, after the friendly which dominates this episode: Argentina's record-equalling 6-1 defeat to Spain in Madrid. How much does Jorge Sampaoli need to change ahead of the World Cup? Is the situation salvageable from here? Is there any hope at all without Lionel Messi? Sam and English Dan consider the fallout. We...

The two hundred and eighty-sixth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam joined by English Dan and Andrés to look back on a weekend of Superliga action which saw the gap at the top close to six points after Boca Junior could only draw following Talleres' victory. That sets things up nicely for the resumption of hostilities after the international break, when Talleres visit Boca. Elsewhere, Racing thrashed...

The two hundred and eighty-fifth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés look back over a weekend of Superliga action that, erm, neither of them managed to catch an awful lot of. Among the bits they did see were last minute wins for Boca Juniors and River Plate, and an entertaining game between Independiente and Argentinos Juniors which saw El Rojo cement third place in the Superliga. There's a...

The two hundred and eighty-fourth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés discuss a weekend of Superliga action which was full of surprise results: from Arsenal de Sarandí winning a game against, well, anybody on Friday evening, to Argentinos Juniors playing Boca Juniors off the park and claiming a 2-0 victory over the league leaders on Monday night. One shock result that didn't happen was a wi...

Episode 283 of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, English Dan and Andrés discuss a weekend of Superliga action in which San Lorenzo lost away to Gimnasia, thus falling even further behind league leaders Boca Juniors, who rediscovered their attacking form in an entertaining 4-2 win over San Martín. San Lorenzo also ceded second place to Talleres. River Plate are still abysmal, and lost 1-0 away to Vélez Sarsfie...

Episode 282 of Hand Of Pod comes to you a little later than normal this week, but Sam and Andrés are here to talk you through last weekend's Superliga action ahead of the next round of games. Boca Juniors found it hard going for the second week running, but once again came through for a 1-0 win which keeps them at arm's length (or perhaps two arms' lengths) from the chasing pack, while there were...

Episode 281 of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés look back on a weekend of action which saw Talleres leapfrog San Lorenzo to go second - albeit having played a game more - and Boca Juniors maintain the distance at the top of the Superliga with a nervy win over Temperley. There were a couple of high-scoring games to look back on as well, and Sebastián Ribas' red-hot scoring form continued with anothe...

Episode 280 of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés discuss an entertaining round of Superliga action which saw the gap at the top remain at six points, thanks to second place San Lorenzo's 1-1 draw with league leaders Boca Juniors. Talleres went third with a fortuitous win over Temperley, and we also look at headline-grabbing solo performances for River Plate and Racing - namely Ignacio Scocco's brace...

Episode 279 of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés meet to discuss the opening weekend of football in Argentina in 2018, which included a Talleres win over San Lorenzo, giving Boca Juniors the chance to open a six-point gap at the top of the Superliga table - a chance the champions took in beating Colón. River Plate lost away to Huracán and, more worryingly, showed no signs of having adapted their gam...

Hand Of Pod returns for 2018, with a new logo and exciting plans for the new year. Sam and Andrés are your hosts for episode 278, in which we look back over a transfer window that was mostly uneventful but all the same takes an age to summarise, because as we might have mentioned before there are too many clubs in the Argentine top flight. Lucas Pratto became the Millonarios' most expensive signin...

The final episode of Hand Of Pod in 2017 brings together Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Peter to discuss Independiente's entertaining run to the Copa Sudamericana title, after they beat Flamengo 4-2 on aggregate in an enthralling final which saw its second leg in the Maracanã on Wednesday night. Why they deserved the title, and how Ariel Holan has turned the team around are among the topics for disc...

The two hundred and seventy-sixth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Andrés join Sam to look back on a weekend of Superliga action which saw yet another disappointing showing from River Plate, while Atlético Tucumán got an encouraging win ahead of their trip to Mendoza to play River in the Copa Argentina final on Saturday. Boca Juniors got back to winning way to keep their noses in front of San Lorenzo i...

The two hundred and seventy-fifth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and English Dan joined by a very special guest, because Phil Carney - author of the Lanús in English Twitter account - has flown down to Buenos Aires all the way from Manchester for a few days. Unfortunately his first visit to the city wasn't enough to help Lanús to their first Copa Libertadores title, as they were totally outplayed...

The two hundred and seventy-fourth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Andrés and Sam discuss a weekend of Superliga action which saw Boca Juniors lose for the first time in the league this season, thanks to probably Racing's best performance so far - and which brought more bad news for Boca late on with an injury to Darío Benedetto which will probably keep him out until the end of the season. River Plate...

The seventh anniversary episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés get together for a chat about two friendlies which brought more problems to light than reason for optimism for the Argentine national team. A 1-0 win over Russia on Saturday was rather dull, and a 4-2 defeat to Nigeria on Tuesday has set alarm bells ringing well and truly regarding what the best tactics and formation are, and wheth...

In the two hundred and seventy-second episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés discuss a dark week for River Plate, as elimination at the hands of Lanús in the Copa Libertadores last week was followed by defeat in an entertaining superclásico against Boca Juniors on Sunday. That win meant Boca still have a 100% record and are now seven points clear at the top of the Superliga table, with Unión in se...

In episode 271 of Hand Of Pod, Sam and English Dan have an afternoon conversation about two big continental ties: the all-Argentine Copa Libertadores semi-final which saw Lanús come back from 3-0 down on aggregate to beat River Plate 4-3 and advance to the first Libertadores final in the club's history, and Racing's Copa Sudamericana exit at the hands of Paraguayan giants Libertad, which it's fair...

There was no league football in Argentina over the weekend, so episode 270 of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, Andrés and English Dan discussing knockout competitions instead - we have a review of the Copa Argentina quarter-finals, which saw second tier Morón make it to the semi-finals, where they'll play River Plate, and a review of the first leg of the Copa Libertadores semi-final between River and Lanús,...

In episode 269 of Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés look back on (what they saw of) a weekend which saw Boca Juniors move six points clear at the top of the Superliga, keeping their 100% record whilst River Plate were held to a draw for the third match in a row. Boca's ability to dig in, River's carelessness and the relegation battle are among the subjects up for discussion. Listeners' questions cover t...

The two hundred and sixty-eighth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, Peter and Andrés discuss Argentina's qualification for the Russia 2018 World Cup, in spite of a 0-0 draw at home to Peru last Thursday and owing rather more to a hat trick from Lionel Messi in Quito which brought a 3-1 win away to Ecuador on Tuesday, in the last match of the campaign. What comes next, what needs to be tweaked, and w...