Argentina beat chile in world cup qualifying match!!!

Argentina captain Lionel Messi fired his country to a 1-0 victory over Chile in Buenos Aires to boost their hopes of World Cup qualification.

Chile's Jose Pedro Fuenzalida brought down Angel Di Maria to concede a soft spot-kick after he pushed the Paris Saint-Germain star from behind. Argentina's talisman stepped up and calmly slotted past Claudio Bravo - 269 days after missing against the Chileans in the Copa America final shootout.

The first half offered a gritty affair at the Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti with neither team managing to break down the other after the deadlock was broken.

On the stroke of half-time, Manchester City centre back Nicolas Otamendi missed a golden opportunity to double the Argentinian lead. The defender fired over from close range, letting La Roja, who were staring at a 2-0 deficit before the break, off the hook.

Sergio Aguero was substituted on the hour mark and made way for Ever Banega. But the Argentinians continued to assert their dominance in the second half and Messi squandered another fine chance.

Marcos Rojo slid a ball into his captain but the Barcelona star could not find his balance and unleashed another shot which hopelessly flew over the bar.

As the game wore on, there was a sense that the longer the Chileans were in touching distance, the more likely they were to steal an equaliser and take a share of the spoils away from the Argentinian capital.

And it was Sanchez who was the nearly man for the visitors. Just minutes after the Argentina captain missed from close range, the unsettled Arsenal forward pinged a free-kick at the crossbar. 

It was now Chile who were in the ascendancy, buoyed by their own talisman's dead ball effort. Jean Beausejour's deflected cross found its way to Nicolas Castillo, who somehow managed to put the ball wide.

The visitors threw everything at their opposition in the dying minutes in an attempt to breach their seemingly unflappable defence. 

But ultimately it was Argentina who held on to claim a vital victory; Messi's early strike enough to come away with the win on an evening where both sides had little to offer and continued to cancel one another out.

The win means Argentina leapfrog Chile, Ecuador and Colombia in the South America group. The top four teams progress automatically and Sergio Hernandez's side now sit in third place with five games left to play. The fifth-placed team will enter a cross-continent play-off match against the winner of the Oceania group.

Group leaders Brazil beat Uruguay in a convincing 4-1 win earlier on in the night, while Colombia, who beat Bolivia 1-0 at home, are now in the fourth qualifying place with 21 points, one ahead of Chile and Ecuador, who lost 2-1 away to Paraguay.