Episode 280: the top two draw; Scocco’s solo brilliance, and Lautaro Martínez’s hat trick

Episode 280 of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés discuss an entertaining round of Superliga action which saw the gap at the top remain at six points, thanks to second place San Lorenzo’s 1-1 draw with league leaders Boca Juniors. Talleres went third with a fortuitous win over Temperley, and we also look at headline-grabbing solo performances for River Plate and Racing – namely Ignacio Scocco’s brace, including a spectacular second, for River, and Lautaro Martínez’s first senior hat trick for Racing.

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This week, Mystic Lee takes on Mystic Sam.

Mystic Lee
Unión v Arsenal
Defensa y Justicia v Chacarita
Newell’s v Colón
Gimnasia v Estudiantes
Vélez v Patronato
Olimpo v Racing
Talleres v Banfield
Godoy Cruz v Belgrano
Boca v Temperley
Lanús v River
Tigre v Argentinos
Atl. Tucumán v San Martín
Huracán v Central

Mystic Sam
Unión v Arsenal
Defensa y Justicia v Chacarita
Newell’s v Colón
Gimnasia v Estudiantes
Vélez v Patronato
Olimpo v Racing
Talleres v Banfield
Godoy Cruz v Belgrano
Boca v Temperley
Lanús v River
Tigre v Argentinos
Atl. Tucumán v San Martín
Huracán v Central

Episode 279: Boca pull clear, River in crisis and Unión keep up the good form

Episode 279 of Hand Of Pod sees Sam and Andrés meet to discuss the opening weekend of football in Argentina in 2018, which included a Talleres win over San Lorenzo, giving Boca Juniors the chance to open a six-point gap at the top of the Superliga table – a chance the champions took in beating Colón. River Plate lost away to Huracán and, more worryingly, showed no signs of having adapted their gameplan over the summer break. Unión continue their fine form of 2017, and are now third, while Gabriel Heinze’s spell at Vélez Sarsfield got off to a good start with a 1-0 away win over Defensa y Justicia. Newell’s Old Boys almost suffered the indignity of dropping points to Arsenal de Sarandí, but were bailed out at the last minute.

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Last week, Mystic Simon beat Mystic Sam 7-5 in the prediction battle. This week, Sam’s all on his own. Here are his picks for this weekend’s games.

Argentinos v Defensa y Justicia
Patronato v Godoy Cruz
Belgrano v Lanús
Banfield v Atlético Tucumán
Central v Unión
Colón v Independiente
River v Olimpo
Arsenal v Gimnasia
Estudiantes v Newell’s
San Lorenzo v Boca
Racing v Huracán
Temperley v Talleres
Chacarita v Vélez
San Martín v Tigre

Episode 272: Boca beat River to maintain their 100% start, and national team talk

In the two hundred and seventy-second episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam and Andrés discuss a dark week for River Plate, as elimination at the hands of Lanús in the Copa Libertadores last week was followed by defeat in an entertaining superclásico against Boca Juniors on Sunday. That win meant Boca still have a 100% record and are now seven points clear at the top of the Superliga table, with Unión in second place. As well as league talk, we also look at the main issues Jorge Sampaoli has to deal with as Argentina prepare to play Russia on Saturday and Nigeria on Tuesday in friendlies.

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Episode 193: River Plate win the Copa Libertadores, and plenty of goals in the league

The hundred and ninety-third episode of Hand Of Pod sees Sam joined by Andrés, Peter, Joel and special guest Richard Martin to talk about River Plate’s 3-0 win over Tigres UANL on Wednesday night, and the third Copa Libertadores title it gave the club. The role of Marcelo Gallardo in using and adapting River’s tradition and expectations, the key players in the win and where the squad might go next are all discussed, before we move on to talk about a goal-packed weekend in the Primera División which ended with Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo tied on points at the top (River, three points behind them, didn’t play at the weekend and have a game in hand). There’s no football this weekend in Argentina due to primary elections, but Mystic Joel instead tells you what to bet on in the political sphere (not really). HOP is sponsored by Argentina Independent, a fine English-language source of news from Argentina and across Latin America.

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Episode 181: River and Boca are joint top, the problem with Independiente & more

In the hundred and eighty-first episode of Hand Of Pod, Sam, English Dan, Andrés and Peter look back on a weekend of action that left River Plate and Boca Juniors joint top of the table as they prepare to head into their clash at La Bombonera on the 3rd May (there are no matches this weekend). The two will also clash twice after that in the last 16 of the Copa Libertadores, but we’ll do a full preview of those matches next week; this time round we look at Racing and Independiente, who both drew their matches 0-0 last weekend, and consider some of the league’s less heralded heroes so far. This week’s history bit has Dan telling us about the time Alfredo Di Stéfano was kidnapped by a Venezuelan group of political protesters. HOP is sponsored by Argentina Independent, a fine English-language source of news from Argentina and across Latin America.

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There’s no Mystic Sam this week, but as a team we’re predicting a River win over Huracán in Saturday’s Supercopa Argentina, and for Aldosivi to turn their 1-0 advantage with an hour to play into a win away to Arsenal when that match is finished (which is what Sam originally predicted for that game anyway), also on Saturday.