This week's Hand Of Pod is a sensible length, so rejoice! Sam, Australian Dan and Seba meet again, and there are plenty of hot topics to get through. Santiago Silva has left Vélez Sarsfield for Fiorentina, seriously damaging the champions' title defence. We discuss the relative economic strengths of the Argentine league with Europe (and... Continue Reading →
Bad luck, or karma? River Plate relegated for the first time in their history
Sunday afternoon was bright and sunny in Buenos Aires, but there's a metaphorical black cloud hanging over the Estadio Monumental as, against what everyone expected back at the start of the Apertura, the unthinkable has actually come to pass: River Plate, the most successful club in the history of Argentina's domestic league, are relegated. They'll... Continue Reading →
Clausura: River miss a chance to pull clear, Palermo scores as Boca draw (video)
Sunday's Torneo Clausura matches saw Martín Palermo draw level with San Lorenzo legend José Sanfilippo as joint fifth highest scorer in Argentine league history, with 227 league goals (he'll need four in his final two games if he's going to level Manuel Pelegrina in fourth though). It was a brilliant long ranger in Boca's 2-2... Continue Reading →
Clausura: River still in trouble, Vélez slip up (video)
The weekend's games in the 2011 Torneo Clausura have left things very tight at the top of the Clausura table, thanks to Tigre's home victory over league leaders Vélez Sarsfield. Vélez rested a lot of their first-choice players ahead of Thursday night's Copa Libertadores semi-final second leg, and suffered for it in a 2-1 loss.... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
Clausura: Carrizo blunders & River Plate stumble again; Vélez win; Boca draw (video)
For the second match in a row, River Plate goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo made a howler to blow his side's chance of a win, making a complete hash of pushing a seemingly harmless long-range shot over the crossbar to gift San Lorenzo an equaliser as the weekend clásico finished in a 1-1 draw. That result... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
Clausura: Boca see off River, & Lanús peg back Vélez (video)
Sunday's biggest match in Argentina saw Martín Palermo a goal from a brilliant header in his final superclásico, and Boca Juniors win 2-0 aided by an uncharacteristic error from River Plate goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo in La Bombonera. Sunday's most important match for the title race saw Lanús come out on top of a five-goal... Continue Reading →
The 2011 Torneo Clausura superclásico is almost upon us. Long-term HEGS readers will be aware I normally do a live update post here during the game. This time, though, I'm changing things slightly. Posting to the blog is more time-consuming and means readers have to continually refresh the page, so instead this time I'm going to do... Continue Reading →
Boca Juniors vs River Plate: how to watch, & who to watch
The 2011 Torneo Clausura edition of one of the world's biggest football derbies kicks off in an hour and a bit, with River Plate traveling south to La Bombonera to take on Boca Juniors in the superclásico. Boca have been in better form in recent weeks but River, challenging for the title whilst also battling... Continue Reading →
Hasta El Gol Siempre 