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Messi puts Argentina back on WC18 track

Argentina have put their World Cup qualifying campaign back on track with a 3-0 win over Colombia.

Lionel Messi opened the scoring with a brilliant free kick and laid on two goals as Argentina put their World Cup qualifying campaign back on track with a 3-0 win over Colombia.

The three points lifted Messi's team into fifth place in the South American group with 19 points, one behind Ecuador and Chile.

Brazil, away to Peru in Lima in a later match, top the table with 24 points while Uruguay are second with 23 after a 3-1 loss to Chile in Santiago. Colombia dropped to sixth on 18 points.

The top four go through to the 2018 finals in Russia with the fifth, at present Argentina, qualifying for an intercontinental playoff for another berth.

Argentina took a ninth-minute lead when Messi curled his free kick over the wall and into the top left corner of the leaping David Ospina's net off the underside of the bar.

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Soon after, Messi's superb ball over the defence was met on the edge of the six-yard box with a firm header into the bottom far corner by Lucas Pratto.

Earlier, Bolivia beat Paraguay 1-0 thanks to an own-goal by Gustavo Gomez.

Their second defeat in two matches leaves Paraguay with 15 points and a difficult task in securing one of the region's berths in the 2018 tournament.

Bolivia, meanwhile, boosted their point total to seven.


2 min read

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Source: AAP



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