Hand Of Pod

Hand Of Pod is 200 episodes old, and this week Sam is joined by Peter and Andrés for a champagne celebration in a bumper episode. We look back over a weekend of Primera action which saw Carlos Tevez make more bad headlines (for breaking an opponent's leg) than good (for scoring twice) during Boca Juniors' 3-1 win over Argentinos Juniors which saw them remain top of the table. There were a few belting goals as well, and there's praise for the fine form of Independiente, Quilmes and others. We examine the run-ins of the title candidates - of whom we've decided there are three, with both leaders Boca and current second-placed San Lorenzo still yet to play third-placed Rosario Central, and also look at Gerardo Martino's first World Cup qualifying Argentina squad, which among more predictable calls includes Paulo Dybala's first call-up and Gonzalo Higuaín's exclusion. All this and plenty of listeners' questions! Thanks for your support over our first 200 episodes, and here's to plenty more...

The hundred and ninety-ninth episode of Hand Of Pod is a post-clásico-round edition, with Sam and Andrés looking back over a weekend which saw Boca Juniors beat River Plate in the Monumental to go top of the league after San Lorenzo had surprisingly lost their derby away to Huracán. Independiente turned in the only really impressive clásico performance, beating Racing 3-0, whilst a lot of the other derbies were rather damp squibs. There's discusssion of Newell's Old Boys' and Vélez Sarsfield's disappointing current situations, and a rather dampened down plan for the return of away fans to Argentine stadia this coming weekend, with only one Primera match to see visiting supporters after all.

The hundred and ninety-eighth episode of Hand Of Pod features Sam, Andrés and Mariano discussing last weekend's results, including San Lorenzo's 1-0 win away to Boca Juniors which took them top of the league, and River Plate's return to winning ways in a 4-1 tonking-which-wasn't-really-a-tonking of Nueva Chicago. There are also two national team friendlies to discuss, and the main lesson everyone appears to have learned from Argentina's 7-0 thrashing of Bolivia and their chaotic 2-2 draw with Mexico is that Matías Kranevitter is the real deal, and a lot of other stuff is still up in the air. As well as this, we have a whole round of clásicos to preview, as the AFA's ridiculous league format reaches its apogee this weekend. It is, admittedly, going to be quite a lot of fun.

This week's Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés have as much off-pitch stuff to focus on as on-pitch. San Lorenzo drew and Boca Juniors won, to leave Boca two points clear at the top heading into this Sunday's clash of the top two, but the bigger news last weekend was in Mendoza, where Godoy Cruz v Racing was called off after 25 minutes with Racing leading 1-0, after Godoy Cruz barras started pelting the players with stones, apparently in protest at new manager Gabriel Heinze's refusal to give them money. There is also crisis at Crucero del Norte, whose players have started to publicly complain about how they have to travel to away matches. As well as all this, we look at the latest bizarre twists in the ongoing story of Marcelo Tinelli's campaign to get elected as president of the Argentine FA, look at two more points dropped by River Plate, and much more.

In the hundred and ninety-sixth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés look back on a weekend which saw San Lorenzo and Boca Juniors extend their (joint-)leadership of the title race, as they both won and River Plate slumped to a second straight defeat. Even more amazingly, Nueva Chicago won for the second week running - though we suspect both they and the team they beat, Crucero del Norte, will still be the two sides ultimately doomed to relegation. Argentina manager Gerardo Martino had some choice words for the Argentine FA's schedulers, and River are entering the transfer market after Ramiro Funes Mori's sale to Everton leaves them with a slot to fill in the defence and the cash to do so.

The hundred and ninety-fifth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and English Dan discuss an eventful round of action in the Primera last weekend, with San Lorenzo and Boca Juniors both claiming 2-1 wins to remain joint top, and their closest pursuers River Plate surprisingly lose to San Martín de San Juan, to fall behind in the title race - had River won that game and the one they still have in hand, they'd have been joint top. We also run the rule over Everton's new signing, River defender Ramiro Funes Mori, and consider a promising performance from Racing and more political discussions at the Argentine FA. Enjoy.

The hundred and ninety-fourth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam joined by Andrés and English Dan to discuss what little football has been played since our last episode - namely, the last few games of the last 32 of the Copa Argentina. There were wins for Racing and Independiente, whilst Atlanta also advanced. As well as that, we also discuss another trophy for River Plate, albeit a rather less meaningful one than the one they picked up last week, and explain who Marcelo Tinelli is (at least within the context of football) and why so many people are currently getting so exercised at the prosect of his becoming president of the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino. All this and Mystic Sam's twentieth round predictions - we might be a day later than normal, but we couldn't leave those out...

The hundred and ninety-third episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam joined by Andrés, Peter, Joel and special guest Richard Martin to talk about River Plate's 3-0 win over Tigres UANL on Wednesday night, and the third Copa Libertadores title it gave the club. The role of Marcelo Gallardo in using and adapting River's tradition and expectations, the key players in the win and where the squad might go next are all discussed, before we move on to talk about a goal-packed weekend in the Primera División which ended with Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo tied on points at the top (River, three points behind them, didn't play at the weekend and have a game in hand). There's no football this weekend in Argentina due to primary elections, but Mystic Joel instead tells you what to bet on in the political sphere (not really).

In the hundred and ninety-second episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam is joined by Andrés and Remi to look back on a week which saw Boca Juniors strengthen their position at the top of the league with a backs-to-the-wall win away to Belgrano after San Lorenzo had dropped points against Godoy Cruz. River Plate's reserves beat Colón, but the main focus of River's week was Wednesday night's Copa Libertadores final first leg away to Tigres, from which they took a 0-0 draw. Other topics up for discussion are the relegation battle (which increasingly looks rather an easy one to predict the outcome of) and a large variety of listeners' questions, ranging from Nueva Chicago's politicised fanbase to Racing's chances of defending their title.

The hundred and ninety-first episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés in a good mood after River Plate's qualification for the final of the Copa Libertadores for the first time in 19 years. A 1-1 draw with Guaraní in Asunción, with Marcelo Gallardo signings Tabaré Viudez and Lucas Alario combining for the crucial goal, proved decisive and next week River will face Tigres of Mexico in the first leg (we didn't know this when we recorded). As well as River in the Copa, there's also a full weekend of Argentine league action to look back on, including River reserves' 5-1 tonking of Atlético de Rafaela, and wins for San Lorenzo and Boca Juniors (on Carlos Tevez's return to La Bombonera)which mean it's still Boca-San Lorenzo-River in a 1-2-3 at the top of the league table. Andrés also has a preview of this weekend's biggest league match, the clásico rosarino between Newell's Old Boys and Rosario Central.

The hundred-and-nintieth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam joined by Andrés, Fede and long-time HOP listener but first-time HOP contributor Johnny to look back over an eventful week. Boca Juniors leapfrogged San Lorenzo into top spot in the league, getting a gritty 1-0 win away to Sarmiento after both San Lorenzo and River Plate had been held to draws earlier in the weekend. For River, at least, there was the consolation of a fine performance and 2-0 win on Tuesday night in the first leg of their Copa Libertadores semi-final against Guaraní of Paraguay - the second leg will be next Tuesday in Asunción. On Monday, as well as a Vélez Sarsfield v Tigre match which saw a dramatic finish, there was Carlos Tevez's unveiling at La Bombonera, to which around 40,000 people showed up - Boca fans Fede and Johnny give us their thoughts on Carlitos' return and what it means for the team. As well as all this, we have a look at a few managerial debutants, including Gabriel Heinze, who Sam believes is the first graduate of bot

Hand Of Pod returns as the Argentine Primera gears up to enter the second half of 2015. Sam and Andrés are here to review Argentina's Copa América campaign, which saw a second major final in a year, but a second disappointment at the last hurdle. Where do the national team go from here, which players matched up to expectations, who fell short and which younger stars should perhaps be given a chance to shake things up in the coming months? As well as this we look at Carlos Tevez's return to Boca Juniors and Javier Saviola's and Lucho González's to River Plate, consider the other main moves in the transfer market, and answer a few questions from our wonderful listeners, as ever.

The hundred and eighty-eighth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, Andrés and English Dan gather for an uncharacteristically early recording session, defying a national strike to see to it that you get your weekly dose of nonsense. We begin with a look at the last weekend of action in the Argentine Primera, in which San Lorenzo's lead at the top was cut by Boca Juniors with a thumping 4-0 win at home to Newell's Old Boys, but River Plate threw away the chance to stay level with Boca by only drawing away to Olimpo. Dan's presence mean Racing are up for discussion again, but the main focus is of course the Copa América, which gets underway on Thursday evening when hosts Chile take on Ecuador. We give you the lowdown on (in our opinion) the main contenders - using Sam's newly-patented 'how many players in their mid-twenties do each squad have?' metric (eat your heart out, Nate Silver!), and of course go particularly big on Lionel Messi & co., who are looking to finally claim Argentina's first senior trophy since the

In the hundred and eighty-seventh episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Andrés and Gustavo meet to discuss the penultimate weekend of Primera División action before the league breaks for the Copa América. San Lorenzo are out on their own at the top due to a win over Quilmes combined with Boca Juniors losing for a second successive week, this time away to Vélez Sarsfield. River Plate got a slightly controversial win over Rosario Central, prompting us to ask whether Ramiro Funes Mori is the Argentine league's answer to John Terry (because he seems to get away with a penalty decision every game, not all the... other stuff); we also look back on River's Copa Libertadores progression last week, and Racing's exit to Guaraní, both of which happened after episode 186 was recorded. As Gustavo is here, there's a roundup of lower division action as well, focussing mainly on the Nacional B so far this year.

In the hundred and eighty-sixth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam is joined by Andrés to discuss another lively week. There's talk about the reaction in Argentina to this week's FIFA arrests in Zurich, and how they affect Argentina (oh, how we wish Julio Grondona had lived long enough to have been bundled into the back of one of those electric cars), though we're sceptical about how much will change. We then cover last weekend's league action, during which Aldosivi dismantled Boca Juniors' unbeaten league record and San Lorenzo beat Sarmiento to move joint top - River Plate's chance to join them didn't come, as their game away to Tigre was the only Primera game of the weekend to be delayed by the AFA decision to cancel the remainder of the weekend's matches out of respect for Cristian Gómez, the Paraná defender who died of a heart attack during his side's game against Boca Unidos on Sunday afternoon. We were deeply pessimistic about River's chances of Copa Libertadores progression just after this episode was record

The hundred and eighty-fifth episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Peter talking about the only thing anyone in Argentine football has been discussing in the last few days - the pepper spray-and-acid attack by the Boca Juniors barra brava on River Plate's players which saw the second half of the Copa Libertadores quarter-final superclásico called off, and Boca disqualified from this year's competition. The political ramifications at the club and for Argentine Security Secretary Sergio Berni (who claimed the security operation had been a roaring success), Boca's protestations and appeals, whether CONMEBOL were too lenient with their punishment and more are all on the table. The tragic death of Emanuel Ortega which caused the calling-off of last weekend's league fixtures means Mystic Sam remains almost unchanged in his predictions this time, though there has been one adjustment compared to last week's readings; he now thinks Estudiantes can win away to Atlético de Rafaela.

In the hundred and eighty-fourth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Peter and Andrés look back on a goal-laden weekend of Primera División action, and on last week's Copa Libertadores last sixteen first leg between River Plate and Boca Juniors. We consider what River's 1-0 win means for Thursday night's return leg, and domestically we discuss Crucero del Norte's uselessness, Belgrano's and Rosario Central's good campaigns, and Independiente's chances of losing three players to various European clubs, as well as Federico Mancuello's hilarious red card on Sunday night against Boca, and why he won't be suspended for this Sunday's clásico away to Racing, which we also preview. Listen before Thursday's Libertadores second leg between Boca and River for the full experience, but there's plenty more in store if you don't get here until afterwards!

In the hundred and eighty-third episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés are joined by Mariano, returning to the pod after a long absence, and new boy Federico, the second of our newly-acquired tame Boca Juniors fans. We look back on Boca's 2-0 win over River Plate on Sunday in the league, and review the rest of the weekend's action as well - including some thoughts from Mariano on San Lorenzo's decline and Copa Libertadores exit. We then preview this Thursday's clash between River and Boca at the Monumental in part two of the Superclásico Trilogy, in the first leg of their Copa Libertadores last sixteen tie. Will Sunday's Boca win play a role in either manager's thinking? Will we see unchanged teams? Which side has more pressure on them, and is a Libertadores last sixteen tie more or less important than a Copa Sudamericana semi-final? All these questions and more are addressed. And this week it's only an hour and a bit long, so early birds have plenty of time to listen before the match!

In the hundred and eight-first episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Andrés and Joel are joined by new boy - and Boca Juniors fan - Julian in an exciting week in Buenos Aires, as we gear up to watch three clashes between River Plate and Boca Juniors in just eleven days; two in the Copa Libertadores last 16, and first of all one in the league this Sunday. We discuss how both sides have come to be sitting joint first after ten matches, how recent superclásicos have gone and what we expect in the upcoming clashes - as well as why the choice of referees, especially for Sunday's encounter, has caused such a big fuss. Prior to that, we have a round-up of the other recent action in Argentina, including a Copa Argentina catch-up and a look at the other sides in the Copa Libertadores knockout stages, because apparently there are some.

In the hundred and eighty-first episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Peter look back on a weekend of action that left River Plate and Boca Juniors joint top of the table as they prepare to head into their clash at La Bombonera on the 3rd May (there are no matches this weekend). The two will also clash twice after that in the last 16 of the Copa Libertadores, but we'll do a full preview of those matches next week; this time round we look at Racing and Independiente, who both drew their matches 0-0 last weekend, and consider some of the league's less heralded heroes so far. This week's history bit has Dan telling us about the time Alfredo Di Stéfano was kidnapped by a Venezuelan group of political protesters.