Hand Of Pod

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés, Chris and Tony preview the Copa de la Liga, which kicked off moments before we started to record. We take a look at the main moves in the transfer market, tell you the acceptable ways to shorten club names (and how to tell all the Central Córdobas apart), ask whether Argentina's Under-23s are rubbish or not and answer some listeners' questions.

This week's episode is our last one of 2023, and Sam, English Dan and Andrés meet to discuss the Copa de la Liga semis and final, which saw Rosario Central emerge victorious, and the Copa Argentina, which was won by Estudiantes. Boca Juniors have finally held their elections, as have Tigre, San Lorenzo and Colón, and Sam is worried about whether he'll be older than every player in the top flight when the 2024 season kicks off.

This week Sam, English Dan and Chris review last weekend's Copa de la Liga quarterfinals, which saw three ties decided by shootouts. We also discuss Riestra's promotion to the top flight and the ongoing court wrangling that continues to delay Boca Juniors' presidential elections.

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Chris look back on the final weekend of the Copa de la Liga group stage action and Colón's loss to Gimnasia on Friday evening in the relegation tie-breaker. There's also a lower division update and some chat about Boca Juniors' presidential election, which currently looks unlikely to happen.

This week Sam, Dan, Chris and Andrés discuss a mixed international break for the Argentine national team, as their perfect start to World Cup 2026 qualifying came to an end with a loss to Uruguay on Thursday but they followed up by handing Brazil their first ever home defeat in WCQs on Tuesday night. After that match Lionel Scaloni hinted he might not hang around much longer, and we also consider some of the possible reasons behind that statement.

We're back! Sam's returned from Europe, and Dan, Andrés and Chris fill him in on the main points of everything he's missed during the Copa de la Liga group stage. We also discuss the Copa Libertadores final (which Sam did watch), in which Boca Juniors lost to Fluminense, and preview Argentina's two upcoming World Cup qualifiers at home to Uruguay on Thursday and away to Brazil on Tuesday.

First, sorry for the poor sound in this episode. Second, sorry for the fact that Sam had to scat the theme tune. In the middle of Sam's holiday, we have a catch-up episode in which he, Dan and Andrés review the recent round of clásicos and the Copa de la Liga group stage so far and take a look at how the early qualifying stages of Argentina's World Cup defence are going.

The Copa de la Liga got underway last weekend, but because Sam's phone app lied to him a couple of weeks ago about when it would be, we'd already penned this week in to record the preview episode, so here it is. Recorded along with Chris, Andrés and English Dan. We also look back on the first leg of Boca Juniors v Racing in the Libertadores quarter-finals, among other things. This will be the last regular episode for a little while, as Sam's off on a trip, but regular (much shorter) episodes will be going online during his time away for Patreon fans over at patreon.com/handofpod.

It's a short episode this week, with Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Chris reviewing the Copa Libertadores exits of River Plate and Argentinos Juniors and the qualifications of Boca Juniors and Racing. The latter two will meet each other in the quarter-finals, which start next week.

We've got plenty to get through this week: Sam, English Dan and Andrés review the 2023 Liga Profesional campaign and decide on the best players who weren't playing for River, look at the biggest transfer stories of the winter so far including Edinson Cavani finally signing for Boca and River bringing Manuel Lanzini home, lament Argentina's frustration at the Women's World Cup and marvel at the continuing tactical bravery of North American club sides in their stalwart refusal to bother even trying to mark the best attacker of all time when he gets near the box.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on a weekend that saw plenty of goals in the Liga Profesional, including a first domestic home defeat of the year for San Lorenzo and a 3–3 draw in Rosario. We also review Argentina's agonising 1–0 defeat to Italy in their opening match of the Women's World Cup (followed up with a 2–2 draw against South Africa shortly after we recorded this episode) and Lionel Messi's first couple of appearances for Inter Miami (or what we've seen of them, which isn't much).

River Plate have been crowned champions of Argentina again, and this week Sam, Andrés and English Dan look at the key players in their campaign and reflect on a good start to life as a first-team manager for Martín Demichelis (hours before Talleres put River out of the Copa Argentina). We also look forward to the Women's World Cup kicking off and discuss the financial sustainability (or otherwise) of Argentine football clubs.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés can't quite give you the confirmation that River Plate have won the title, but Martín Demichelis's men are now nine points clear with nine to play for, so it doesn't seem like it'll be much longer. We also discuss Lionel Messi's first day at Inter Miami, the Copa Sudamericana playoffs beginning and more.

(This week's episode is a little delayed being uploaded, but while River Plate have played since we recorded, they're still not champions yet: they drew with San Lorenzo on Saturday, meaning they'll only take the title if Talleres lose on Monday.) In this episode Sam, Andrés and Dan discuss them reaching the brink of the title, Racing continuing to disappoint (and bidding farewell to Paolo Guerrero) and much more.

This week's HOP is a little different from normal, because Sam and Tony met up on Thursday to interview Club León and Argentina midfielder Sophia Braun ahead of the Women's World Cup. After that, on Friday, Sam went to Dan's place, and the two of them reviewed last week's action in the league (the main results since then before this pod went online were that River lost and Talleres were held to a draw on Saturday, cutting River's lead to 9 points) and the closing matches of the group stages in the Copas Libertadores and Sudamericana.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés look at a week of Liga Profesional action which saw River Plate maintain the gap at the top even as Talleres leapfrogged San Lorenzo into second. Elsewhere, Uruguay claimed the Under-20 World Cup, beating Italy in the final in La Plata, and Lionel Messi scored his 103rd international goal – and the earliest goal of his career – and Alejandro Garnacho made his international debut as Argentina beat Australia 2–0 in a friendly in Beijing.

This week Sam and English Dan round up last week's league action (including tragic news from the Monumental) and the midweek Libertadores and Sudamericana results, and have a chat about Lionel Messi's move to Inter Miami. Will it extend his international career? When will he make his debut? And will we down here actually be able to watch any of his matches? All these questions and more are answered. Or at least speculated over.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on a weekend that saw River Plate held to a draw that still allowed them to extend their lead at the top of the league thanks to a shock defeat for San Lorenzo earlier in the round. Boca Juniors actually played well for once, Argentina (and England) are out of the Under-20 World Cup ... but most importantly of all, José Sand broke his own record as the oldest player to score in Argentina's top flight through a stoppage time penalty for Lanús against Independiente at the age of 42 years, 10 months and 10 days.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on a couple of weeks of action during which San Lorenzo have closed the gap slightly on River Plate at the top of the table, River's prospects in the Copa Libertadores aren't looking good, and the Under-20 World Cup has begun ... and Argentina aren't awful.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on last weekend's superclásico, which ended in a 1–0 win for River Plate after a stoppage time penalty Boca Juniors weren't happy about. Dan has cause to lament Racing's recent form, we update you on Independiente's influencer-led fundraiser and more.