Hand Of Pod

In the two hundred and third episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam is joined by Andrés, English Dan and Fran to look back on a disappointing start to Argentina's World Cup qualifying campaign, in which without Lionel Messi to provide the inspiration they looked listless and took just one point from matches at home to Ecuador (a 2 -0 defeat) and away to Paraguay (0-0). Why was there no centre forward to call on when Sergio Agüero got injured? Is it worth continuing to call up Carlos Tevez? Is Javier Mascherano being used in the right role? These are just some of the questions we consider. After that, there's the small matter of Boca Juniors possibly winning the league on Sunday night, when they face Racing, and the rest of a tasty-looking weekend of league action ahead.

The two hundred and second episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam, English Dan and Andrés convene to discuss a weekend of football which saw Boca Juniors open up an imposing six point lead at the top of the table with just three matches remaining. Following San Lorenzo and Rosario Central's 2-2 draw, Boca struggled a bit but still beat Crucero del Norte 1-0, as a result of which Crucero, to no-one's surprise, are relegated. Still clinging on to their Primera status - for now - are Nueva Chicago, who grabbed a 2-1 win over Vélez Sarsfield. River Plate put in an awful performance and were well beaten, 3-0 by Independiente, and Quilmes' good form continued. This weekend the Primera takes a break for the first double-header of CONMEBOL's marathon World Cup qualifying campaign, which will see a Lionel Messi-less Argentina host Ecuador on Thursday and travel to Paraguay on Tuesday.

The two hundred and first episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam joined by Andrés and English Dan as well as newcomer Fran to discuss a weekend of action which saw Boca Juniors take a decent lead in the title race as San Lorenzo dropped points to Tigre. Rosario Central shouldn't yet be ruled out though, as they reminded everyone with a 4-0 thrashing of Gimnasia. We also run the rule over Jonathan Calleri, who if some English newspapers are to be believed is attracting interest from Arsenal (of London, not Sarandí), and look at the two confirmed candidates for the first proper election the Argentine Football Association has had since... oh, a very long time indeed.

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...