Episode 87: Ramón Díaz returns to River, Vélez move to the verge of the title & more

One subject looms large over this week’s (belated) episode of Hand Of Pod, the eighty-seventh since we started. Sam, English Dan and Joel discuss Ramón Díaz’s emotional return to the club he loves and which loves him, River Plate, after Matías Almeyda was fired in the extremely early hours of Wednesday morning/late hours of Tuesday night. What Díaz’s return means for River, whether Almeyda really deserved the sack and more. We also discuss Vélez Sarsfield, who could win the title on Sunday afternoon, and whether their boss Ricardo Gareca is really the Argentine Sir Alex Ferguson, as some in the Argentine media would have us believe. There’s an appreciation of Tigre – who hours after recording reached the Copa Sudamericana final, the first continental final in their history – and listeners’ questions ranging from Sam’s ideal River starting XI to who Julio César Falcioni’s replacement as Boca Juniors manager might be. Enjoy.

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Episode 77: Matías Almeyda gets a vote of confidence, Riquelme gives a press conference & much more

In the seventy-seventh episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Dan and Joel begin life without Australian Dan with another bumper episode, during which we look at the increasing impatience towards River Plate and Racing managers Matías Almeyda and Luís Zubeldía ahead of the clásico between the two clubs this weekend. We also recount last Friday’s hilarious press conference at La Bombonera in which Juan Román Riquelme led everyone a merry dance, and look back at last weekend’s results, as well as considering the importance of the Superclásico de Las Américas, a friendly double-header between the domestic national sides of Argentina and Brazil (Brazil won the first leg 2-1 shortly after we recorded this episode). And as of this week, Mystic Dan is replaced by Mystic Sam. Enjoy.

Mystic Sam’s predictions can be found below, and as usual you can click here to subscribe to us on iTunes, or here to follow us on Twitter.