Every two years, South America’s top youth talent take part in the qualification tournament to earn a spot in the U20 Women’s World Cup. Paraguay played host to that talent during the month of February, and we’ve seen highs, lows, surprises, disappointments, and plenty of good goals. Let’s look back at the action and highlight some of the best players from the 2026 edition of the U20 South American Championship.

CONMEBOL’s U20 tournament was broken into two stages. The initial stage comprised of two groups of 5 teams, with the teams in each group playing each other once. The top three teams in each group advanced to the final stage. This final stage, a single group of the remaining six teams, involved all teams playing each other once.

The top four teams in this final stage qualify for the U20 World Cup, and the top team in this final stage is the winner of the tournament.

You can read a more detailed overview of the initial group stage in my earlier post, but the standings for the two groups ended as follows:

Despite their positioning, the three teams that looked the strongest from this initial stage were Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela.

Ecuador were competitive in their matches against Argentina and Brazil, but they didn’t look like they would really match them. Paraguay had a great opening match, but they declined in each subsequent match. Colombia didn’t concede a goal on the performance of goalkeeper Luisa Agudelo, but their offense was lacking. They won two matches because they happened to score and no one could beat Agudelo.

Once the Hexagonal kicked off, two teams really rose about the rest: Brazil and Ecuador. They would both complete the Hex undefeated and finished in the top two positions. The other four teams struggled to find consistent play, but Argentina and Colombia were able to get the results necessary to snag the last two qualifying spots. The final standings for the Hexagonal were:

None of Colombia, Paraguay, and Venezuela played particularly great in the Hexagonal, but Colombia were able to leverage their solid defense and amazing goalkeeping to finish in the final qualifying spot via goal difference. Throughout the tournament, Colombia struggled to find consistent offense, but a late equalizer against Paraguay and a dominant outing against Venezuela were enough to see the side qualify.

Venezuela played with a bit of chaos throughout the tournament. They were aggressive and exciting, but they could get careless in defense. In the Group Stage, this produced draws and wins. In the Hex, it produced draws and losses.

For Paraguay, aside from a decent outing against Venezuela in the Hex, “…they just slowly collapsed like a flan in a cupboard.” (To borrow a line from Eddie Izzard.) Their final two matches were a 4-0 loss to Brazil and a 5-1 loss to Ecuador. Despite having the best attacking player in the tournament, Paraguay just didn’t have the quality to make use of Claudia Martínez. Paraguay wasn’t necessarily favorites to win the competition, but as the hosts building on an exciting performance from the U17 side, they were certainly expected to qualify for the U20 World Cup. This will be a disappointment for the side.

Going into this tournament, Brazil had won every previous edition of the U20 South American Championships. In my preview, I made the bold prediction that they would win again, and Brazil followed through.

In the end, Brazil were deserved winners. During the Group Stage, they were strong, but they lacked a certain verve. They never dominated any matches. Once they reached the Hex, despite the quality of opponent rising, Brazil stepped up their play and actually became the dominant juggernaut they can be.

The only team that remotely matched them was Ecuador, whose quality set of starters slowly grew into the tournament becoming very consistently very good. They never reached the quality heights of Brazil, but they never dropped below very good. When it comes to the final standings, Ecuador got the good version of Venezuela’s chaos, and it cost them the key two points that had them finish second.

There were a number of standout performances during the tournament, and I want to recognize my MVPs for the tournament. Aside from the Golden Boot winner, players I recognize are of my own choice. They are not official award winners. Along with why I chose them, I’ll provide at least one highlight from their play during the tournament.

Kishi Núñez - 7 goals - Argentina

It is not surprising that Kishi Núñez would score a lot of goals in this tournament. She’s an established striker who regularly starts for Boca Juniors and regularly plays for the full Argentina national team. But this tournament had a good pool of potential goal scorers, and Núñez didn’t just score the most goals, but she nearly doubled the next highest scorer. Second place in the Golden Boot race (held by a few players) was 4 goals scored.

Luisa Agudelo - Colombia

When you look at Colombia’s results in a vacuum, they don’t look like a side with the best goalkeeper in the tournament. But las Cafeteras qualified for the World Cup on the back of Agudelo’s consistently outstanding performances. There’s another version of the tournament where Colombia crashes out in the group stage with just a point because Agudelo doesn’t make the multiple stellar saves she made.

Here are a couple examples from the group stages:

It’s not secret that Luisa Agudelo is a quality goalkeeper. She’ been shining for Colombia’s youth teams and Deportivo Cali for some time now. But she made a big move to the San Diego Wave in the NWSL during the winter, and she’s set to be their starter. This will be a step up in the quality of competition she faces, and she put the league on notice that she thinks she’s ready for the next level.

Maite Zambrano - Ecuador

I highlighted Zambrano as a player to watch in the tournament. The only defender I highlighted, and she vindicated that recognition. At 17 years old, Zambrano is still very much a young player, but she is already a regular starter for her club side, Independiente del Valle, and she’s won league titles with this team. Unlike some of the other players in the tournament, I don’t think she’s quite ready for that jump to the top level, but she’ll surely be a prized central defender in a couple years.

As a defender, she displays that full package of tackling, positioning, anticipation, and ball possession. She is difficult to be in 1v1 situations. She’ll read situations and put out danger before it begins. And she can hold possession and make line-splitting passes.

In the highlight, she shifts over to defend Brazil’s Carioca in a 1v1 situation, wins the tackle then reacts first and uses her body to win possession. Once in control, she finds Fiorella Pico

In general, I’m excited to see this Ecuador side in the U20 World Cup, but I’m most excited to see how Maite Zambrano fairs against that next level of talent. Whether or not Ecuador go far, I would not be surprised to see Zambrano continue to build her recognition in Poland this summer.

Mary Guerra - Ecuador

This was probably the toughest position to choose a best player, but I went with Mary Guerra because she really stepped up in the Hex when teammate, Fiorella Pico, was on the on the bench nursing an injury. It put more pressure on Guerra to handle the play-making responsibilities for Ecuador, and she stepped up big time. Ecuador began the Hex with victories over Colombia and Argentina, and Mary Guerra was at the heart of Ecuador’s midfield facilitating play and being a danger, herself.

In Ecuador’s final match of the Hex, Mary Guerra capped off a great tournament with a first-half hat trick.

Guerra is part of a trio of young, talented midfielders that represent Ecuador and play their club football for Independiente del Valle. Fiorella Pico and Evelyn Burgos being the other two. Pico and Burgos have seen more time with the full national team, but Guerra made a big impact on the surprise package of this tournament.

Kishi Núñez - Argentina

Sure, it’s easy to go with the top goalscorer, but Núñez stood out for more than just her goals. Throughout the tournament, Argentina rotated their squads. It likely kept the squad fresh and allowed the coach to see a lot of players, it got exposed in the Hex when the quality of play increased. But throughout, whenever Núñez was on the field, Argentina were unquestionably a better squad. This was probably most visible in the final match of the initial group stage against Brazil. The opening half saw Núñez start on the bench and Brazil dominate, going into half with a 1-0 lead. Núñez subbed in to start the second half, and the momentum completely turned. Argentina would score two goals, overturning the deficit and running out winners.

Instead of post one goal, here are all of Núñez’s goals from the tournament.

Kishi Núñez is probably the most established striker in this tournament, and that may warrant choosing someone else. Claudia Martínez is the biggest name right now, but Núñez has been playing at a high level for longer than anyone else in this tournament. But that doesn’t change the fact that she was the best striker in the tournament. Expected? Perhaps. But was she the best? Yes.

Rosa Flores - Ecuador - vs Colombia

During the initial group stage, no one scored on Colombia, and this was largely because Luisa Agudelo played lights out. In the their first match in the Hex, Ecuador got Colombia, and she spent a good part of that match attacking and failing to score. Like the teams before them, they could handle Colombia, but they couldn’t find the net.

Then in the most unlikely of circumstances, Rosa Flores was gifted a chance, and she took it.

Agudelo was finally beaten, and it was in such an impressive fashion. This win really set Ecuador on the right path for the Hex, and they rode that all the way to a second place finish in the tournament.

The four teams that qualified will make their way to Poland for the U20 World Cup. The tournament takes place between September 5 and September 27. I will definitely provide some coverage of that tournament when it kicks off.

Next week, I will return to club football with updates from the leagues in action across Central and South America.