Hand Of Pod

This week, Sam, Andrés and English Dan look back on last weekend's Liga Profesional action, which saw San Lorenzo get a vital late winner to remain six points behind River Plate. Delays in uploading mean we're a little out of date, because on Friday evening River were held 1–1 away to Atlético Tucumán, meaning the chasing pack have a chance to close the gap a little. Elsewhere, Racing and Boca are poor, Independiente's financial struggles continue and Argentina Under-20 boss Javier Mascherano is hoping Manchester United will let Alejandro Garnacho go to the Under-20 World Cup.

After an enforced break, we're back, and Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi get you caught up with what's happened in the three rounds of Liga Profesional action since we last recorded: River have streaked out in front in the title race, Boca didn't end up appointing Gerardo Martino as manager, no one ended the clásico de Avellaneda in a very good mood and San Lorenzo are as good as they've been for years. Oh, and Argentina will be hosting the Under-20 World Cup next month!

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés review Argentina's first two friendly wins as world champions, 2–0 over Panama and 7–0 over Curaçao, which saw Lionel Messi pass 800 career goals and 100 international goals. We also discuss the managerial situation at Boca Juniors, who've sacked Hugo Ibarra as manager and – if the media can be believed – look set to replace him with Gerardo Martino.

On this week's Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Tony have a HOP first to review: a win for Gimnasia over Estudiantes in the clásico platense, something that last happened a couple of months before Sam moved to Argentina. There were two hilarious penalties awarded in Independiente v Colón, a win for Instituto in the Bombonera and one for River Plate in Junín that takes them top of the table. And we preview the international break, as Argentina play their first matches as world champions, hosting Panama on Thursday and Curaçao on Tuesday.

Ignore Sam's confused numbering at the start: this is episode 454, not 444. He's joined by English Dan and Andrés to review a league weekend with an awful lot of 1–1 draws and only four red cards, in which San Lorenzo finally decided to cut loose and get a big win. Tickets for Argentina v Panama went on sale the day we recorded this and had (predictably) already sold out, and we discuss the format for the 2026 World Cup and the CONMEBOL qualifying process.

What a difference two weeks makes! Since we last recorded Lanús have gone from played four, won four to played six, won four, lost two. Sam and Dan review two weeks that have resulted in a mere two points separating the top seven teams.

In this week's Hand Of Pod (recorded on Wednesday, but Sam's only just getting the time to upload it on Friday night), Sam and Andrés discuss a fourth round of action in the Liga Profesional which saw more red cards to add to the already high tally (and, since we recorded, round five has kicked off with one in the second match of the weekend). Lanús continue to lead the way with a perfect record, but the other relegation strugglers aren't in such good form.

On this week's episode Sam and English Dan look back on a third consecutive win for early table-toppers Lanús, a drab defeat for Boca in Córdoba and an entertaining – and controversial – first match for River in the newly expanded Estadio Monumental, which is now the largest stadium in South America.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on the second round of action in the Liga Profesional, which saw a remarkable coincidence: Pablo Vegetti, who was the first person to score against Marcelo Gallardo's River Plate back in 2014, became the first person to score against Martín Demichelis's River Plate, as Belgrano beat River 2–1 in Córdoba. Lanús are among the early leaders as their attempt to escape relegation gets off to a promising start, and the match we told you not to watch on episode 449 saw one goal that was disallowed, eight that were allowed and a red card. Just in case you were starting to think we sound like people who know what we're talking about after 450 episodes ...

This week, Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on the first weekend of action in the 2023 Liga Profesional season and discuss Enzo Fernández's big-money transfer to Chelsea (including what it means for River Plate's finances). When we started, it didn't feel like there'd be much to say, but we managed somehow ...