![\"Lionel](\"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Lionel-Messi-Argentina.jpg\")
Buenos Aires: Ace forward Lionel Messi helped Argentina beat Chile 1-0 in an intense football match of the South American qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, putting the Albiceleste in the direct qualification zone.<\/p>\nBuenos Aires: Ace forward Lionel Messi helped Argentina beat Chile 1-0 in an intense football match of the South American qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, putting the Albiceleste in the direct qualification zone.<\/p>\n
Messi scored the winning goal from a penalty in the 16th minute on Thursday, reports Efe.<\/p>\n
The Argentine squad managed to kill two birds with one stone; first, they made their comeback against Chile after La Roja defeated them in the last two Copa America finals.<\/p>\n
Secondly, Argentina climbed to third place with 22 points, one less than Uruguay and eight behind Brazil, putting the Albiceleste in the direct qualification zone for the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Chile dropped to sixth place with 20 points, outside the qualifying zone.<\/p>\n
The encounter was marked by tension and pressure from both teams, and began with a cancelled offside goal for Chile, but stayed goalless after Messi’s penalty goal, despite various attempts at scoring.<\/p>\n
In the next round, Argentina will visit Bolivia on Tuesday in La Paz, while Chile will host Venezuela in Santiago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Buenos Aires: Ace forward Lionel Messi helped Argentina beat Chile 1-0 in an intense football match of the South American qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, putting the Albiceleste in the direct qualification zone.<\/p>\n
Messi scored the winning goal from a penalty in the 16th minute on Thursday, reports Efe.<\/p>\n
The Argentine squad managed to kill two birds with one stone; first, they made their comeback against Chile after La Roja defeated them in the last two Copa America finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[8947,12975,466,563,21813],"class_list":["post-34029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world-football-news","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-football-news","tag-indian-sports-news","tag-lionel-messi","tag-south-american-qualifiers"],"yoast_head":"\n