The South American region of World Cup 2022 qualifiers entered matchday seven earlier this week with games in five different centres. The region also known as CONMEBOL played hosts to majority of the best players on the continent as the ten countries in it continued the battle for a place at World Cup 2022 tournament in Qatar.
Matchday seven kicked off with the encounter between hosts Bolivia and Venezuela which ended in a 3-1 win for the home team at the Estadio Hernando Siles in La Paz. Marcelo Moreno was the hero for Bolivia with two goals as he propelled his team to the first win of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers at the end of the game on Thursday.
In the second game of the matchday on Thursday, Uruguay were forced to a disappointing goalless draw by Paraguay who are still unbeaten in the qualifiers after five games. The third game ofmatchday seven saw Argentina settle for a 1-1 draw with Chile at home.
Messi scored for Argentina in the first half with a 23rd minute penalty and Chile replied with the equaliser from his former Barcelona teammate Alexis Sanchez on 36 minutes.
In the final game on Thursday in the South American region of World Cup 2022 qualifiers, Everton defender Yerry Mina, Matheus Uribe and Luis Diaz scored within 15 minutes either side of the break as Colombia thrashed hosts Peru 3-0. In the final game of matchday seven played in Porto Alegre on Friday, Richarlison and Neymar (penalty) scored the goals in a 2-0 home victory over Ecuador.
At the end of matchday seven and with five games played, Brazil lead the standings comfortably with maximum 15 points and four points more than arch rivals Argentina in second place.