Messi penalty puts Argentina back on track with 1-0 World Cup qualifying win over Chile

After a run of four straight World Cup qualifiers without a win and a tumble out of the qualifying spots, Argentina won a second in a row with a narrow 1-0 victory over Chile on Thursday, thanks to Lionel Messi’s penalty kick.

It was the second time in these qualifiers that Argentina beat Chile, re-avenging losses La Roja in back-to-back Copa America finals in 2015 and 2016 which, cruelly, both went to penalty shootouts. The Argentine victory followed up a 3-0 trouncing of Colombia in mid-November, which, in turn, came after a demoralizing 3-0 beating at the hands of arch-rivals Brazil.

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The game at the Monumental in Buenos Aires was a feisty slog, and Chile was, in truth, unlucky to lose.

Jose Pedro Fuenzalida’s early goal was called off for offside.

Meanwhile, Alexis Sanchez, playing through a debilitating ankle injury, hit the cross bar with a free kick.

He was also denied a somewhat credible penalty by referee Sandro Ricci.

But in the 16th minute, Argentina’s Angel Di Maria was brought down by Fuenzalida on a long ball into the box from Javier Mascherano. And Messi converted the kick.

Argentina badly needed that penalty goal to take the points, because it hardly pelted Claudio Bravo’s goal with shots. This shanked long shot from Gonzalo Higuain was a particular lowlight.

All the same, the win, however narrow and dubious, gave Argentina’s chances of reaching Russia in 2018 an enormous boost. Prior to picking up these points, La Albiceleste had languished in sixth place. But only the top four of the 10 South American teams qualify directly for the World Cup, with the fifth going to an intercontinental playoff.

Argentina’s win, however, coupled with Ecuador’s 2-1 loss in Paraguay and Uruguay’s 4-1 home defeat at the hands of Brazil, vaulted Argentina into third place and only a point back from the second-place Uruguayans. Indeed, Edgardo Bauza’s men now have a two-point cushion above sixth-place Chile, which had started the day in fourth place.

It’s a long overdue turnaround for a program that had been in shambles since the Copa America Centenario last summer. Back then, manager Tata Martino resigned and Messi announced that he was done playing for his national team, such was the dysfunction at the federation. Di Maria and Mascherano made similar noises at the time.

The win wasn’t pretty, exactly, but it was what was needed. Argentina’s golden generation has unfinished business at the World Cup, after losing the 2014 final to Germany in extra time. Now, at the very least, they are giving themselves a chance to get back and end a string of three straight major finals consecutively lost in extra time or on penalties.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.