Hand Of Pod Sam Kelly

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.

This week Sam, English Dan, Chris, Andrés and Santi look back on a Copa de la Liga weekend that saw an awful lot of draws, including one between Independiente and River Plate that gives us a chance to discuss both managers' 2024s so far. Wednesday evening saw River claim another (minor) trophy, and we also discuss national team news, including new kits and Lionel Scaloni's decision to call up Lisandro Martínez even though he's not back from injury yet.

This week Sam, Dan and Andrés round up the last couple of rounds of Copa de la Liga action, which saw Godoy Cruz lose for the first time (domestically) this year, leaving River Plate – who ended a run of four straight draws by beating Independiente Rivadavia on Wednesday – as the last unbeaten side in the competition. Boca Juniors aren't much good, Carlos Tevez is a conspiracy theorist and we have a short roundup of the lower leagues so far, now that they've mostly kicked off.