Argentina beat Paraguay to stay perfect in World Cup qualifiers

Argentina beat Paraguay 1-0 on Thursday in Buenos Aires to maintain a perfect 3-0 record in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying.

Lionel Messi came off the bench early in the second half to the delight of the Monumental crowd with Argentina leading from an early Nicolás Otamendi goal.

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Otamendi handed the captain's armband to Messi, who had been in and out of action with club side Inter Miami in recent weeks due to injury, as the home side dominated the game from start to finish despite the small margin of victory.

Although he was rarely troubled, it was a stellar night for Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, whose clean sheet saw him surpass Germán Burgos for the most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal at 621. The last team to score on Martinez was France in the World Cup final in November.

The result also continues an impressive streak for Argentina, which has just one loss in its last 50 games, outscoring opponents 108-25 and going 36-13-1 since losing to Brazil in the 2019 Copa America semifinals

The defending World Cup champions have nine points from three matches and will look to keep the winning streak alive with an away match against Peru on Oct. 17.

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Scaloni's Argentina was 2-0 in CONMEBOL qualifying coming into the match, having beaten Ecuador 1-0 and Bolívia 3-0 in September, but Messi did not play against Bolívia after picking up a leg injury in their first match.

That injury forced Messi to miss a chunk of games for club side Miami as the team missed the MLS Cup playoffs after a 1-0 loss to FC Cincinnati on Saturday.

The Argentine superstar's participation in Thursday's qualifier had been in doubt in the run-up to the game, with Scaloni saying Wednesday the decision whether or not to play Messi would be left entirely up to the player.

Messi led Miami to the club's first trophy with a win in the inaugural Leagues Cup competition between MLS and Liga MX sides in August, but his team came up short in the final of the U.S. Open Cup -- a game Messi missed due to his injury -- and also fell short of reaching the MLS postseason down the stretch.

The World Cup winner has been nothing short of amazing since joining Miami in July, scoring 11 goals in 13 matches he played for the team. Miami went 8-1-4 when he played, but only 1-3-2 in the six matches he missed through injury.