Hand Of Pod

Sam, English Dan, Santi, Andrés and Chris got together this week to look back on a good week to be a River Plate fan, after the Millonarios edged Boca Juniors in a tetchy superclásico before getting past Colo-Colo in the Copa Libertadores. Dan is also in a good mood, having watched Racing reach their own continental semifinal in the Sudamericana – their first international semi since 1997 – and Lanús are there as well. Meanwhile Vélez Sarsfield still lead the league and Santi remains frustrated with Independiente.

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi review a weekend of Liga Profesional action that saw Vélez Sarsfield extend their lead at the top of the league to five points (the race for second place is MUCH tighter) and River Plate put an end to their run of drawing in the league and winning in the Copa Libertadores by ... winning in the league and drawing in the Copa. We also have some talk about the latest political rumblings at the AFA and Juan Sebastián Verón's hopes of private financing (but not ownership) at Estudiantes.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on a double header of World Cup qualifying action that saw Argentina beat Chile and lose the Copa América final rematch to Colombia, while Uruguay drew 0–0 twice in a row, Brazil continued to struggle and Bolivia – Bolivia! – were the only team to win both their games, including their first away win in World Cup qualifying since 1993.

Vélez Sarsfield have hit a fine run of form, and this week Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on a weekend that saw them open up a little daylight at the top of the league thanks to Huracán dropping points. There was a ridiculous red card for one of Godoy Cruz's medics, River Plate still can't win (or lose) domestically under Marcelo Gallardo and we've a World Cup qualifying double header to look forward to.

This week Sam, English Dan and Santi look back on an Avellaneda clásico that saw Independiente battle to a goalless draw away to Racing. We also discuss Vélez Sarsfield going joint top with Huracán, the possibility of Athletic Club de Bilbao legend Iker Muniain signing for San Lorenzo and plenty more besides.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés review two weeks of Liga Profesional action which saw Huracán hold on to top spot in the league while Marcelo Gallardo seemed to announce his return to River Plate by doing the same thing he always did before: winning in continental competition but struggling (or taking it less seriously?) domestically. We also have a review of the Sudamericana and Libertadores knockouts, and bid farewell to Humberto Maschio, the last of the Angels With Dirty Faces, who died on Tuesday aged 91.

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi review a round of Liga Profesional action that saw a lot of draws, but Walter Bou rescued us from yet another with perhaps the best goal of the weekend anywhere in the world to give Lanús a 90th-minute winner over Tigre. Marcelo Gallardo has been unveiled as River Plate manager and as if things weren't bad enough for Independiente, cracks are appearing in their stadium ...

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi review last weekend's action in the Liga Profesional, which includes wiping some egg off our faces after the thing we said last week surely wouldn't actually happen – River Plate sacking Martín Demichelis – happened within hours of HOP500 going online. In other news, Argentina's Olympic team were eliminated just before we recorded, meaning Julián Álvarez has no longer won every competition he's played in at the first attempt.

We're 500 episodes old, and to celebrate Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi got together to talk about not one but two rounds of Liga Profesional action, including a continuing crisis of identity for River Plate and the first bumps in the road for Huracán's title charge among other things. The Olympic football tournament got underway on Wednesday, and we have some thoughts about the ridiculous fashion Argentina's defeat to Morocco ended in.

This week Sam, English Dan, Chris, Andrés and Santi get together to review Argentina's 2024 Copa América final victory over Colombia ... but first we have to talk about that Enzo Fernández video. And there was also all the nonsense before the final was played. In short, it's a more muted celebration than we'd been hoping to have. On a more positive note, club football is already back in South America, and with it the opportunity to laugh at Boca Juniors.