Episode 38: Grondona’s inevitable election win & Chelsea’s young transfer target

Julio Grondona was named Argentine FA President for another four years as we recorded this episode, a development slightly more inevitable than the sun rising tomorrow. Sam, Seba, Dan and Dan look into the reasons behind FIFA Vice-President Grondona’s grip on Argentine football (by 2015 he’ll have been AFA President for 36 years), and why a hidden camera sting which caught him boasting about bribes and much more the day before the elections had no effect. We also run the rule over Lucas Ocampos, River Plate’s 17-year-old star who’s reportedly wanted by Chelsea, consider Boca Juniors’ options in replacing injured forward Lucas Viatri, and look at Independiente’s slowly improving form, before embarrassing ourselves by trying to list, off the tops of our heads, every football club whose stadium lies within the City of Buenos Aires.

As usual, Mystic Dan’s predicitions are listed below for round 12, and you can click here to subscribe on iTunes if you haven’t already done so.

 

Episode 28: The Hand Of Pod Torneo Apertura 2011 preview

Hand Of Pod’s two resident Racing fans are both on holiday this week, but Sam and Australian Dan are battling on, insistent that their partners’ absence is but a flesh wound, and are joined by the one and only Joel Richards, who does a sterling job of patching the bleeding. On the menu is a discussion of practically every team in the Primera División this season, as well as the AFA’s U-turn on last week’s planned expansion of the top flight to 38 teams, Alejandro Sabella’s appointment as Argentina manager, the unveiling (at last!) of the Best Argentine Abroad of 2010-11 according to our listeners, and more.

Mystic Dan’s predictions are back for the new season, and are as ever below the ‘Continue reading’ line. We’ve also got a juicy video of Marcos Angeleri for the ladies, and a video to Sam’s best friend’s latest YouTube uploads. Nick Ball is the composer of the HOP theme tune as well as a professional musician, composer and producer, and has recently put up a few videos demonstrating techniques from 1910s and ’20s ragtime drumming. It seems only fair that we help spread the word, not least because most of our listeners seem to prefer the music to the actual pod…

Oh, and you can subscribe to us on iTunes right here.

Enjoy the new season!

Episode 25: the River Plate relegation playoff special

There’s only one topic for this week’s Hand Of Pod, and we make no apologies for that. Dan, Dan, Seba and River fan Sam try to make some sense of what none of us quite thought would come to pass: the news that River Plate endured the worst day in their 110-year history on Saturday, and will have to play the playoff against Belgrano de Córdoba to avoid relegation. Who’s to blame? And how do the playoffs work? There’s also praise for a magnificent afternoon’s league action on Saturday, and Sam has a rant at Twitter. It’s all cathartic.

There’s no Mystic Dan this week, but next week will see the ‘Clausura as it would look had his predictions all come true’ presented to the world. Oh, and if you’ve not already subscribed to us on iTunes, here’s where you need to click.

Episode 22: Tevez in the Copa América squad, & your votes are needed!

This week in Hand Of Pod, Sam, Seba, Dan and Dan give their opinions on Javier Mascherano’s sterling job at centre back in recent weeks for new European champions Barcelona, and discuss whether he might also be a good option in the role for Argentina. We run the rule over Carlos Tevez and the other names in Argentina’s Copa América squad – announced right before we started recording – and consider the latests developments in the domestic league as usual. We also want your votes in a poll to find the man our listeners feel has been the best Argentine in a foreign league during 2010-11. Please send them (just the one each, please) to awards@hastaelgolsiempre.com. We’ve suggested a few names for you, but the list is by no means limiting.

Remember, you can get HOP delivered straight to your iTunes by clicking here to subscribe. As usual, Mystic Dan’s predictions are below the ‘Continue reading’ line.

Episode 21: Maradona goes postal, poor referees & Arsenal’s new boy

We had difficulty shutting up this week. A full 45 minutes of actually quite good stuff (if we say so ourselves) was cut, and the podcast still comes in at over an hour. Diego Maradona is the focus of much of the early part, his ongoing wars of words with AFA president Julio Grondona and Argentina manager Sergio Batista the main reasons, and his unlikely alliance with River Plate president Daniel Passarella. The latter leads us on to more dodgy refereeing in the weekend just gone, before we consider the key fixtures in the run-in as the races for the Clausura title and to avoid relegation approach their defining points. You’ll find a full diagram of the relevant bits of those tables, and the fixtures to come for each team, right here. Oh, and we run the rule over potential new Arsenal man, Vélez’s ‘Ricky’ Alvarez.

Mystic Dan’s predictions, and those all-important tables and upcoming fixture lists, are below the ‘continue reading’ line, as usual. And don’t forget you can subscribe to us on iTunes.

Episode 20: Superclásico review, Maradona’s new job & more

For the 20th episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Dan, Dan and Seba welcome special guest Asli Pelit to the show. Asli’s a Turkish TV presenter who was at La Bombonera to see Boca Juniors beat River Plate 2-0 in Sunday’s superclásico, and as well as giving us her impressions of that game, she also shares her thoughts on the most intelligent interviewees by position on the pitch, Julio Grondona’s Argentina mafia connections, and the sandwiches at Colón (worth remembering if you’re heading to a Copa América game in Santa Fe). We consider Diego Maradona’s prestigious new managerial position, and offer to act as underwear models for a well-known Argentine brand. Oh, and we debate the age of Racing striker Teófilo Gutiérrez. He turns 26 today (17th May), so well done Aussie Dan.

As ever, you can listen here, and subscribe on iTunes for your regular fix. Mystic Dan’s predictions are below the ‘Continue reading’ line.

Hand Of Pod Episode 8: Tevez vs Batista

In the eighth episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, Dan, Dan and Seba examine the recent (and ongoing) feud between Carlos Tevez and Argentina’s national manager Sergio Batista – and AFA President Julio Grondona. They also look back on an interesting clásico clash between Racing and Boca Juniors in Avellaneda, and look forward to the coming weekend’s matches, including a big derby clash between River Plate and Independiente. And Sam’s got confirmation of a controversial rumour from late last year that was discussed in a 2010 episode of the show.

You can listen or download (the downward-pointing arrow) right here on the blog, or subscribe on iTunes. And if you’d like to see Mystic Dan’s weekend predictions neatly laid out, just click ‘Continue reading’ below the listening widget.