There were contrasting fortunes for the nine South American outfits who contested friendlies this week. The continent's leading superpowers were indebted to the goalscoring instincts of two teenage tyros, while Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru picked up some promising results as they continue to rebuild. But there was disappointment for Paraguay, Colombia, Chile and Venezuela when they failed to shine. Join FIFA.com as we analyse the latest crop of matches involving CONMEBOL sides.

Young guns
Argentina and Brazil both won again courtesy of the respective talents of Sergio Aguero and Alexandre Pato, two stars who glittered at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007. "There are so many good players around you don't tend to get too many opportunities. So when they come you have to take them," said El Kun after scoring the opening goal in Argentina's 2-0 defeat of Egypt and stealing the spotlight from centre-forward Fernando Cavenaghi, who made a long-awaited return to the Albiceleste set-up.

It was a win that was met with satisfaction by the national press. Leading with the headline "Reasons to believe as Argentina slip through the gears", the morning daily Clarín identified another talented youngster Fernando Gago as the star performer, awarding him a match rating of eight points. "After a very difficult start we made things pretty easy in the end," commented the Real Madrid midfielder afterwards.

For their part Brazil racked up another win without quite managing to hit the heights demanded by their fans. Headlining in the 1-0 over Sweden was Alexandre Pato, whose star continues to rise. "Pato saves Brazil", boomed the front page of Lance!in reference to the AC Milan prodigy's winning goal 12 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute. The Seleçao's latest discovery also drew effusive praise from coach Dunga. "The talent he has is out of the ordinary. There are some players who can make all the difference and he's one of them. He's not unlike Ronaldo when he was that age. Both of them like to get involved and they try to do what you tell them."

Onwards and upwards
Elsewhere on the continent there were encouraging wins for Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. "With a host of new faces and a more positive approach than in recent times, the national side beat Costa Rica 3-1" wrote Perú.com following a comprehensive win that met with the approval of the country's football journalists. The website also heaped special praise on the debutants George Forsyth, Carlos Zambrano, Donny Neyra, Miguel Torres, Daniel Chavez and Hernan Rengifo. "They all passed the test, with two of them [Rengifo and Zambrano] even getting on the scoresheet."

There were plenty of good vibrations in Bolivia too following a 1-0 win away to Venezuela. Despite the narrow scoreline, strike duo Marcelo Martins and Joaquin Botero were lauded for their efforts as the Bolivians recorded their first success on the road in over a year, a result that was met with cautious optimism by coach Erwin Platini Sanchez. "We're in a transitional phase right now and like any process of change, it's not easy. We need to keep working if we want to raise our profile. Slowly but surely, though, I think we're getting there."

Ecuador got in on the act by chalking up a well-received 3-1 victory over Haiti. " La Tri win and impress too" ran the headline in La Hora. The match marked Sixto Vizuete's official debut at the helm after coming in as caretaker for the 5-1 demolition of Peru in the qualifiers. "Having fallen behind after only four minutes, I'm happy with the attitude the players showed in turning the game around," declared Ecuador's new boss.

Warning signs
It was all doom and gloom in Paraguay as the leaders of the South American qualification group crashed to a surprise 3-0 defeat against South Africa in Pretoria. And with virtually a full-strength side on show, the Albirroja came in for some heavy criticism in national daily ABC: "Error-ridden, slow, powerless to react, lacking enthusiasm and guilty of slack marking, particularly on the flanks, Paraguay provided easy pickings in defence and midfield and were anonymous up front." The only men to dodge the bullets in the Paraguayan press were Edgar Barreto and upcoming midfielder Luis Caceres.

The biggest concern for Marcelo Bielsa's Chile was not so much the fact they lost out 1-0 to Israel but their lack of firepower in attack and their disorganised response to going behind. After it was all over the Argentinian coach provided his particular take on the night's events. "We didn't create anything up front, which is more worrying than not scoring. There is a solution, though, and Chile have got the resources to create chances. With a bit more skill maybe we could even have got something out of tonight's game."

Finally, Colombia attracted some bad reviews of their own when they went down 3-1 to Honduras, bringing an end to a nine-game unbeaten run. The Cafeteros' last defeat was a 4-2 reverse to Argentina at the 2007 Copa America although they are still without a win in 2008, having drawn 2-2 with Uruguay in Montevideo in February.