Hand Of Pod

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, River Plate's resurgence continues - the giants are now just two points off the Copa Sudamericana places, a situation that would have seemed unthinkable a few weeks ago. And we bid farewell, for the moment at least, to Arsenal de Sarandí's participation in the top flight of Argentine football; they were relegated after Patronato's 3-0 win against Rosario Central on Sunday.

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 extra episode would sound like, so enjoy!

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 also explain what's going on with a court case involving Independiente, where a youth prostitution ring has been uncovered operating out of the club's accommodation (without, we hasten to add, the club's knowledge).

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 Patronato and River Plate, fresh from their Supercopa win, deservedly beat Belgrano 3-1, with Nacho Scocco coming off the bench to score twice. Should he still be a sub? Finally, we discuss the Argentine national team, and how Jorge Sampaoli will be approaching their two upcoming friendlies.

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 also discussion of Wednesday night's Supercopa Argentina, which saw River turn in their best performance of the last six months or so to spring a surprise, beating Boca 2-0 to lift the trophy. The prize itself isn't of huge importance, of course, but the repercussions for both clubs' seasons could be - most notably, could this be the springboard for a revival in River's fortunes?

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 win for River Plate, who have a potentially huge couple of games coming up. Racing, meanwhile, might be paying Jorge Sampaoli to come and watch them these days ... and speaking of Sampaoli, we have some thoughts on his latest Argentina squad.

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 Sarsfield in a dreadful match, while Racing managed two impressive wins: first becoming the first team this league season not to lose to Godoy Cruz in Mendoza, and then beating Cruzeiro 4-2 in the Copa Libertadores on Tuesday night. All this and more.

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 plenty of goals elsewhere. River Plate's attack improved a bit, but their defence still left a lot to be desired in a 2-2 draw against Godoy Cruz; Rosario Central's youngsters, meanwhile, announced themselves with some fanfare as Andrés Lioi hit a hat trick in their 5-0 tonking of Olimpo. On Wednesday night, Independiente suffered the disappointment of a shootout defeat to Grêmio in the Recopa Sudamericana.

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 another goal for Patronato.

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, including a spectacular second, for River, and Lautaro Martínez's first senior hat trick for Racing.