Agencies

Argentina got their World Cup qualifying campaign off to the perfect start on Thursday when Lionel Messi’s early penalty gave them a 1-0 win over Ecuador in a lacklustre match in Buenos Aires.

The Argentine FA piped fan noise around the empty Bombonera stadium and the chants of “Messi! Messi!” were vindicated as early as the 12th minute when he put Argentina ahead from the spot after Lucas Ocampos was fouled inside the penalty area.

Argentina had lost just one of their last eight World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and although they could not add to the scoreline they never looked in danger of losing in a scrappy game against limited opponents.

“It was important to start with a win because we know how difficult the qualifiers are. All the matches are going to be as hard as this one,” Messi said.

With the South American qualifiers twice pushed back from the scheduled start in March, it was almost a year since either team had played a full international and Messi said that inaction contributed to the poor spectacle.

“We hoped the level of play would be different but it’s been almost a year since we played together, this was our first game back and the nervousness makes it complicated,” the Barcelona striker said.

Argentina’s next game is on Tuesday against Bolivia in La Paz, while Ecuador return home to face Uruguay, who beat Chile 2-1 in their opener earlier on Thursday, the same day.

The Uruguay-Chile game in Montevideo, though, proved to be controversial, with Chilean footballers berating referees and officials after several penalty decisions went against them. Luis Suarez got Uruguay’s first goal from the spot shortly before half time with the aid of VAR. The referee pointed to the spot after the ball bounced off Sebastian Vegas’ body and on to his arm as he slid in to block a shot.

Although Alexis Sanchez equalised for Chile early in the second half, substitute Maxi Gomez made it 2-1 in injury time to give the home side a barely deserved win.

The Chileans’ ire was exacerbated by the referee’s refusal to consider two of their own penalty claims, including one clear handball in the dying minutes of the match.

It was honours even between Paraguay and Peru in Asuncion as Angel Romero for the hosts and Andre Carrillo both scored a brace.