Hand Of Pod

In the penultimate HOP of 2019, Sam, English Dan, Tony and Andrés review a round of Superliga action – the last before the summer break – in which most of the title hopefuls dropped points, not for the first time.

Hand Of Pod is back after Sam's holiday, and in this week's episode, English Dan, Andrés and Tony fill him in on what's been happening while he was away, including a review of River Plate's late collapse in the Copa Libertadores final, why Diego Maradona resigned and then unresigned as Gimnasia manager, and the main talking points ahead of Boca Juniors' presidential election on Sunday.

This Saturday, the first ever single-match final of South America's biggest club competition will be played, as holders River Plate take on Brazilian giants Flamengo in Lima's Estadio Monumental. In this week's Hand Of Pod – recorded last Thursday, because Sam is away on holiday – Sam and Andrés take you through both sides' route to the final, and consider what might happen on Saturday afternoon.

In this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés look back on a weekend of Superliga action which saw all of the top four drop points (Boca Juniors were the only ones to even draw), ensuring a tight title race has got even tighter due to wins for a few of the chasing pack. We also consider the Copa Argentina semi-finals, one of which was played during and one of which was played after this recording (th...

In this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam, Andrés and Tony are again joined by special guests Phil and Jamie to discuss a weekend in which victories for River Plate, Boca Juniors and Lanús combined with a draw for Argentinos Juniors to leave four teams separated by just a point at the top of the table. As well as this, Colón take on Independiente Del Valle in the Copa Sudamericana final on Saturday, and on...

This week in the Hand Of Pod studio, Sam, English Dan and Andrés are joined by two very special guests: Phil Carney, who runs the Lanús in English Twitter account, and Jamie Ralph, who runs the Newell's in English account, are both visiting Argentina for a couple of weeks, and came in to say hello. With them, we review a midweek round of Superliga action which saw Argentinos Juniors go clear at th...

On this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés look back on the Copa Libertadores semi-final second legs, reviewing River Plate's progression in spite of defeat against Boca Juniors and Flamengo's crushing win over Grêmio. They ask whether the final will be as one sided as this week's two matches appear to suggest. And Mystic Sam predicts not one but two rounds of the Superliga.

In this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Andrés review Argentina's 6-1 tonking of Ecuador in Elche, and cast their eye over the players who might have won themselves consideration by Lionel Scaloni when more meaningful fixtures come around. We also take a look at the latest Primera Femenina results, and preview next week's Copa Libertadores semi-final second leg between Boca Juniors and Ri...

The main topic on this week's Hand Of Pod is Argentina's stirring comeback from 2-0 down at half time to draw 2-2 away to Germany in Dortmund, thanks to goals from Lucas Alario and Lucas Ocampos. We also look back on a weekend of Superliga action which saw several more than decent matches, a very surprising result in the Nuevo Gasómetro, and Unión edging the clásico santafesino.

In this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on the Copa Libertadores semi-final first legs, focusing of course on River Plate's convincing 2-0 win over Boca Juniors in the all-Argentine tie, as well as congratulating Colón for reaching their first ever continental final, and reviewing last weekend's Superliga action.

This week on Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back at a weekend which saw Boca Juniors beat San Lorenzo to remain top of the Superliga table and continue their perfect start, and consider some surprising names in the chasing pack. We also preview next week's Copa Libertadores semi-final first leg, when Boca will travel to the Monumental to take on River Plate in another Libertadores s...

In this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on a Superliga weekend which saw Diego Maradona begin life as Gimnasia boss with defeat to Racing. A San Lorenzo slip up gave Boca Juniors the chance to go top – which they took – and Huracán bafflingly decided to defend high up the pitch against River Plate, in spite of there now being plentiful evidence to suggest that's absolutel...

In this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on one forgettable and one rather more memorable friendly for Argentina, and consider the positives from both – namely Lautaro Martínez continuing to flourish up front, and that midfield suddenly looking rather more impressive than it did this time last year.

This week on Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on a superclásico in which Boca Juniors weren't giving anything away against River Plate, and consider how and why the astonishing news came about – just an hour or so before we started recording – that Diego Maradona has been named manager of Gimnasia La Plata. There's also a bit of national team talk.

In this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam, Andrés and English Dan look back on a weekend which included San Lorenzo ending Arsenal's perfect start to go top of the league themselves, and consider Boca Juniors and River Plate's chances of advancing to another superclásico semi-final in the Copa Libertadores. As well as that, we also preview this weekend's superclásico, as River prepare to host Boca in the le...

On this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés look back on a Superliga weekend which brought a historic result in the country's oldest clásico, as well as a third win in a row for newly promoted Arsenal de Sarandí, victory for Boca Juniors in Daniele De Rossi's Bombonera debut, and San Lorenzo continuing to not be boring.

Three hundred and fifty! How did we get this far? In this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on silver for the women and gold for the boys representing Argentina in the Panamerican Games football tournaments, and consider the narrative of Daniele De Rossi scoring on his Boca Juniors debut and then watching from the bench, having been subbed, as his teammates went out of the...

This week, Sam and Andrés look back on the second week of action in the 2019–20 Superliga, which saw Arsenal and San Lorenzo both pick up their second wins in as many league games, while River Plate and Boca Juniors also both won, and Independiente aren't too happy with CONMEBOL.

This week, Sam, English Dan and Andrés are joined by a new team member, and review the first round of 2019–20 Superliga action as well as the last sixteen of the Copa Libertadores, which saw River Plate and Boca Juniors advance to the quarter-finals, while Godoy Cruz and San Lorenzo fell by the wayside. And Mystic Sam is back!

In the three hundred and forty-seventh episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Andrés and Julian meet to preview the new Superliga season. Which clubs have had the best transfer windows? Which are in most trouble in the relegation battle? These and more questions are answered here. And our sponsors at Fanatiz are back! Head to www.fntz.co/hop and use the discount code hopfz to enjoy the new season wherever y...

In the three hundred and forty-sixth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés meet to discuss the last bits of the Copa América – particularly relating to Argentina's campaign, and their third-place playoff win over Chile and Lionel Messi's bizarre sending off for getting in the way of Gary Medel's shoulders. We also lay the groundwork for the 2019–20 domestic season, with news of the structure of t...

In the three hundred and forty-fifth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés look back on Argentina's elimination at the hands of Brazil in the semi-finals of the Copa América, and consider a Copa campaign during which there were (in our opinion) more positives than negatives, in terms of team building.

In the three hundred and forty-fourth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam and English Dan review an improved but still far from perfect Argentina performance to beat Qatar 2-0 and advance to the quarter-finals of the Copa América, where they'll face Venezuela in the Maracanã on Friday. What's going right? What's still going wrong (or looking like it might at any moment)? Step this way to find out.

In the three hundred and forty-third episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés look back on a draw for the women's national team which (combined with results on Thursday) saw them eliminated from the Women's World Cup, and a draw for the men's national team which leaves them still in the Copa América (just) – but there are a lot more positives for the women than for the men.

In the three hundred and forty-second episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan and Andrés discuss Argentina's fantastic Women's World Cup showing against Japan, where they claimed their first ever point at an official World Cup (and Sam tells you why the word 'official' appears in that sentence), and we look forward to Argentina's clash with England on Friday and, regarding a national team we're l...