South American qualifiers: major presence of MLS's players

After an extensive period of inactivity due to the coronavirus pandemic, the South American Qualifiers for the 2022 Qatar World Cup began. Major League Soccer players had great influence of it: in total, there are 17 MLS players distributed along five of the 10 national teams.

The Venezuelan national team has more MLS players than any other team, with a total of five. Rolf Feltscher (Los Angeles Galaxy), José Martínez (Philadelphia Union), Miguel Ángel Navarro (Chicago Fire), Cristian Cásseres Jr (New York Red Bulls) y Renzo Zambrano (Portland Timbers) were called up by coach José Peseiro.

Perú called four MLS players to face Paraguay and Brazil: Andy Polo (Portland Timbers), Raúl Ruidíaz (Seattle Sounders), Pedro Gallese (Orlando City) and Marcos López (San José Earthquakes). Ecuador also had the same number of MLS players: Jhegson Sebastian Mendez (Orlando City SC), Xavier Arreaga (Seattle Sounders FC), Diego Palacios and Jose Cifuentes (both from Los Angeles Football Club).

Meanwhile, Uruguay and Paraguay had two MLS players. The team coached by Oscar Tabárez called Brian Rodríguez and Diego Rossi (both Los Angeles Football Club), while the squad led by Eduardo Berizzo called up Gastón Giménez (Chicago Fire) and Alejandro Romero Gamarra (New York Red Bulls).