Hand Of Pod

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.

Sunday brings yet another final for Argentina, so on Friday evening Sam, English Dan, Andrés, Chris and Santi got together to review the quarter- and semifinals of the 2024 Copa América (for all the teams) and preview the final. Listeners' questions include the possibility of England meeting Argentina in the Finalissima and how hefty Marcelo Bielsa's fine will be after his explosive press conference.

The Copa América group stage is over, so this week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Chris review them – first in detail from Argentina's point of view and then more generally with a look at how the other sides got on, as well as previewing the knockout stage. Are Brazil going to get better? Why did the USA and Mexico disappoint? And who's the red-hot striker who led Venezuela to first place in their group for the first time ever?

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Chris give you a quick review of the main talking points from the last round of Liga Profesional action before the break for the Copa América and then get stuck into the main order of the day: previewing Argentina's attempt to defend their title, which kicks off when they take on Canada on Thursday evening.

This week Sam, Santi and Andrés review last weekend's Liga Profesional games, which saw a last-gasp win for leaders Racing over bottom-of-the-table Riestra. We also look (again) at Independiente's managerial situation, which took an amusing (to non-Independiente fans) turn after we discussed it two weeks ago, and talk a bit about the national team ahead of their pre-Copa América friendlies against Ecuador and Guatemala.

This week Sam, English Dan and Chris welcome special guest Benjy Nurick, who's in town researching a book about how porteños do football. We look back on last weekend's Liga Profesional matches, including some liquid football (albeit against not the best opposition) from Racing, and review almost all of the last full week of Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana group games.

This week Sam, Andrés and (for one half only) Santi discuss the second round of Liga Profesional matches, which saw an awful lot of draws. We talk about River Plate's Copa Argentina elimination (and ongoing lack of direction) under Martín Demichelis, Carlos Tevez's departure from Independiente and Argentina's preliminary Copa América squad, among much more.

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi look back on an opening weekend of Liga Profesional action that saw Racing throw away two points in a goalfest, River Plate cruise to victory and plenty more besides. We also have a Copa Libertadores update and a short rant about the state of football journalism these days.