Hand Of Pod

This week on HOP Sam, English Dan, Santi Sourigues and special guest Marcus Haydon review the semifinals of the Liga Profesional Torneo Apertura, which saw Huracán squeeze out Independiente on penalties and Platense get a 1–0 win over San Lorenzo to set up a final in which either El Globo will win their first title in over fifty years or El Calamar will win their first ever. We also take a look at the domestic players likely to be added to the Argentina squad and the last week of Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana group stage action.

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi Sourigues look back on the quarterfinals of the Liga Profesional's Torneo Apertura and forward to this weekend's semifinals. Whoever ends up taking the title now it'll be the end of a length title drought, and for one of the remaining teams it would be their first top-flight title ever.

Sam, English Dan, Santi and Andrés have a bumper episode this week, in which we review the eight matches from last weekend's Liga Profesional round of sixteen and preview the quarterfinals, which run from Sunday to Tuesday. We also cast our eyes over the midweek continental action and let you know who Lionel Scaloni's called up from the foreign legion for Argentina's next two World Cup qualifiers.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés finally have some meaningful football to look forward to, and here we review the final weekend of group stage action in the Liga Profesional de Fútbol Torneo Apertura 2025, and take a look at this weekend's last sixteen fixtures. We also look at how Argentina's representatives in the Copas Sudamericana and Libertadores got on.

This week Sam, English Dan, Chris, Andrés and special guest Santi Sourigues review last weekend's action, and in particular Sunday's superclásico, in which Franco Mastantuono was imperious – and scored an astonishing free kick – for River Plate. Boca Juniors manager Fernando Gago became former Boca Juniors manager Fernando Gago after the game, so we also ask what's next for them.

River Plate host Boca Juniors on Sunday afternoon, and if you stick around long enough in this episode Sam, English Dan and Andrés eventually remember to preview it. Before that we look back on last weekend's Liga Profesional action – which saw River finally score some goals – review the week's continental results and bid a brief farewell to the most footballing pope ever.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés review last weekend's Liga Profesional action, which saw Boca Juniors confirm their place in the knockout stage and Racing move into the qualification spots for the first time since (we think) the second round of matches.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés look back on a weekend of action that saw big wins for Racing and Argentinos Juniors, more frustration for River Plate and Boca get right back to winning ways – why is Fernando Gago supposedly in trouble, again? As well as this, on Tuesday night Argentina's women's national team got a historic result, beating Canada 1–0 in a friendly.

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés, Santi and Fer review a weekend that saw mixed results for all our teams, including Guillermo Barros Schelotto's first defeat – and first victory – as Vélez Sarsfield manager. The group stages of the Copa Sudamericana and Copa Libertadores are underway, and we have plenty of listeners' questions (including a couple Sam forgot last week).

This week's HOP is a long one, but not without reason: Sam, English Dan, Santi, Chris and special guest former professional footballer Andrés Gurrieri review Argentina's World Cup 2026 qualification and, more to the point, the 4–1 battering they handed out to Brazil right after their place in next year's tournament was confirmed. We also have some talk about the few domestic matches that have been played during the international break, Andrés tells us a bit about his career, and there are some listeners' questions.

This week Sam, English Dan, Santi and Andrés review a clásico de Avellaneda that saw the spoils shared and a disappointing result for River Plate, among other league games, before turning our attention to Argentina's two upcoming World Cup qualifiers away to Uruguay on Friday and at home to Brazil on Tuesday. Will the world champions seal their spot before we next record?

This week Sam, English Dan, Santi, Andrés and Chris look back on a weekend of action that saw the two Avellaneda sides get contrasting results ahead of their big derby this weekend. River Plate actually managed to impress Andrés for once (even though their finishing was awful) and Fernando Gago managed to keep his job at Boca Juniors for another week.

This week Sam, English Dan and Andrés are joined for the first time by Fer, the sport correspondent for the Buenos Aires Herald, who tells us why champions Vélez Sarsfield have been struggling so much for the last couple of months – which is perfect timing, as they sacked Sebastián Domínguez as manager after defeat to Huracán at the weekend. Dan is in a good mood thanks to Racing's authoritative win over Botafogo in the Recopa Sudamericana, and for River Plate it's the same old song ...

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Chris begin with a look at Boca Juniors' elimination from the Copa Libertadores at the second round playoff stage by Alianza Lima, who lost 2–1 on the night but won the penalty shootout. Is Fernando Gago under pressure? Are Boca improving regardless of this setback? We also review last weekend's league action and give live reaction as Vélez Sarsfield score their first goal (and claim their first win) of 2025.

This week Sam, Chris and Andrés look at a round of league action that saw Vélez Sarsfield lose again and Tigre and Central Córdoba continue their unexpectedly bright starts to the season. Both Boca Juniors and River Plate claimed narrow victories, though Boca's Libertadores playoff first leg away to Alianza Lima ended in defeat on Wednesday. And what on earth is Foster Gillett up to?

This week Sam, English Dan, Chris and Andrés look at a round and a half of matches that have seen everyone who'd played up to the start of recording get mixed results (with the scores that came in after we wrapped up continuing that trend). One Argentine team who do have some consistency are the national under-20s, who've secured qualification for the U-20 World Cup later this year and have a showdown with Brazil on Thursday night to effectively decide the South American title. And what on earth is going on at Estudiantes?

Estudiantes beat Racing 2–0 in round 3, and as such are the only team with a 100% (winning) record. Sam, English Dan and Andrés run the rule over that match, River Plate's iffy 0–0 draw with San Lorenzo and Boca Juniors' 2–1 win over Huracán, among other games. We also have a review of the Sudamericano Sub 20 in the last week and answer some listeners' questions.

This week Sam, English Dan, Chris, Santi and Andrés look back on the first two rounds of the 2025 Apertura, in which the two Avellaneda giants took maximum points, River and Boca both looked rather iffy and champions Vélez Sarsfield lost twice, including managing to let in two goals against Tigre before the season was even ten minutes old. There's good news from the Sudamericano Sub 20 and plenty more besides.

We're back! The 2025 Liga Profesional de Fútbol season kicks off on Thursday evening, and Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Chris are here to preview it for you. How many teams are there this year? What will the format be? What's happening to the Copa de la Liga? All these questions and more are answered here ...

Vélez Sarsfield became the champions of Argentina on Sunday, and in this episode Sam, English Dan, Santi, Chris and Andrés review the final weekend of Liga Profesional matches and look at why Vélez deserved their title and where their rivals – most obviously Talleres and Huracán – fell short. We also ask how River Plate and Boca Juniors need to rebuild for 2025, among other matters.

On Wednesday Central Córdoba de Santiago del Estero became the first club from their province to win a major national title, beating Vélez Sarsfield 1–0 in a controversial Copa Argentina final. Sam, English Dan and Santi meet to review that match and to preview Sunday's two matches, which will decide whether Vélez ultimately finish a very impressive year empty handed, as they host fellow title hopefuls Huracán with Talleres eager to pounce as well should they slip up.

On Saturday afternoon Racing Club beat Cruzeiro 3–1 in Asunción to lift the Copa Sudamericana, and this week Sam and Andrés are joined by not one but two Racing fans who were in attendance, as English Dan and Seba tell us what their experiences were like and help us review the match. We also look back on Argentina's recent World Cup qualifying double header, which saw a defeat away to Paraguay and a narrow win at home to Peru.

When we recorded this week's podcast – before Vélez Sarsfield's 1–0 win over Tigre – it looked like Racing might somehow be in the title race. They're still not exactly out of it, and Sam, English Dan and Andrés discuss why that's the case, back-to-back wins for River Plate and Aldosivi securing promotion back to the top flight.

This week Sam, English Dan, Chris, Andrés and Santi look back on a week that saw Racing reach their first continental final in 32 years by beating Corinthians 2–1 in the Cilindro (in front of Dan and his son) for a 4–3 aggregate win in their Copa Sudamericana semi. In the other semi, Lanús lost (Chris was there), while Tuesday night's astonishing firework show at the Monumental was much more spectacular than the football River Plate served up as they slumped out of the Copa Libertadores against Atlético Mineiro.

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés, Chris and special guest Chris Lee discuss this week's Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana semifinal first legs, then move on to last weekend's Liga Profesional fixtures and the midweek Copa Argentina matches (of which there were two, in two different rounds of the competition), among many other things.

This week Sam, English Dan, Chris and Andrés look back on a double header of CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers that saw Argentina draw a water polo match away to Venezuela before turning on the style – and seeing Lionel Messi roll back the years – with a 6–0 win over Bolivia. We also look at the qualifiers from elsewhere on the continent and talk AFA politics (again).

Sam, English Dan, Chris and Santi recorded early in the week this time, in order to preview Argentina's two Dibu Martínez-less World Cup qualifiers away to Venezuela on (hopefully) Thursday and at home to Bolivia next Tuesday. We also review the weekend's action in the Liga Profesional and ask whether the AFA are seriously about to cancel relegation from the top flight this year after all.

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Chris review a round of Liga Profesional matches that saw Talleres claim an away win over River Plate which, along with Vélez Sarsfield's 3–0 capitulation to Rosario Central a couple of days later, helped them move to within three points of top spot. We also have a look at the latest Argentina squad, news of Boca Juniors sacking their manager, Iker Muniain scoring his first (and second) goal(s) for San Lorenzo and more.

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.

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.

On Sunday César Luis Menotti, who managed Argentina to their first World Cup win and oversaw the creation of the structure around the country's national teams to this day, died at the age of 85. Sam, English Dan and Chris discuss his importance to Argentine football. We also review the semis and final of the Copa de la Liga and preview the 2024 league season, which kicks off this weekend.

This week Sam, English Dan and Chris look back over last weekend's Copa de la Liga quarterfinals and forward to Sunday and Tuesday's semifinals as the first 'half' of the Argentine season nears an end.

This week Sam, English Dan and Chris review an entertaining end to Group B in the Copa de la Liga and a really thrilling climax to Group A. They also look ahead to this weekend's quarterfinals, which include a superclásico between Group A winners River Plate and Group B fourth-placers Boca Juniors on Sunday.

The Copa de la Liga group stage ends this weeke— well, in the first half of next week, actually, and Sam, English Dan, Santi and Chris are here to run down which teams need which results to make it into the quarterfinals, with only runaway Group B winners Godoy Cruz already knowing which position they'll finish in. We also look at the first couple of rounds of Copa Libertadores group games and have a bumper postbag of listeners' questions.

This week Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Santi look back on Argentina's two comfortable friendly wins over El Salvador and Costa Rica in the United States, which included Alejandro Garnacho's first start – a performance Sam has some thoughts about. There have been a bunch of Copa Argentina games since we last recorded, and listeners' questions include who's playing in this year's edition and how the very bottom league of the pyramid has gone so far.

This week's pod was delayed by two days due to rain, so Sam, English Dan, Andrés, Chris and Santi met up on Friday evening to talk about last weekend's Copa de la Liga matches – including a win for River Plate, defeat for Independiente and not much else of real note – and to have a look at Argentina's squad for their friendlies against El Salvador (played right after we finished recording) and Costa Rica, as well as the Copa Libertadores group stage draw.