Neymar Jr. of Brazil celebrates the first goal of his team

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South American qualifiers for Qatar 2022 began last week
Some famous names fired their teams to success
Neymar, Alexis Sanchez, Luis Suarez and Radamel Falcao all starred
Every FIFA World Cup™ qualifying competition throws up new names, reveals the players who represent the future of their respective national teams, and shows if the young guns starring at club level can also excel on the international stage. In the spotlight as the Qatar 2022 preliminaries got under way were the likes of Lautaro Martinez, Rodrygo, Richarlison, Federico Valverde, Rodrigo Bentancur and Gonzalo Plata.
 
With the exception of Rodrygo, who did not feature in Brazil’s second match of the week, the members of this exciting new wave all played both their countries’ games, with Richarlison, Plata and Martinez all finding the back of the net.
 
Nevertheless, it was South America’s old guard who made the headlines on the opening two days of the CONMEBOL qualifiers. With 257 caps between them, Neymar, Philippe Coutinho and Thiago Silva all turned it on for Brazil, while Luis Suarez scored three for Uruguay, despite the absence of strike partner Edinson Cavani.
 
Lionel Messi made light of his 33 years to shine once more for Argentina as he took his tally of caps to 140, and Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez were equally impressive for Chile. Not to be outdone, the experienced Colombian trio of Radamel Falcao, James Rodriguez and Luis Muriel helped Los Cafeteros pick up four points out of a possible six.