FIFA World Cup Qualifying: Argentina 1 - 0 Chile: 5 Talking Points

2. Brazil and Uruguay are still the teams to beat in South America

Argentina may have climbed to 3^rd in the table, but the two teams in front of them are still a cut above. The Uruguay v Brazil match that kicked-off half-an-hour previous to this was everything this match was not – exciting, end-to-end, with plenty of good goals, and both teams giving it a good ol’ go. The match may have ended 4-1 in favour of the Tite's excellent Brazilians, but Oscar Tabarez will have a valid point if he says that they were still a good match despite not having their best player on the pitch - Luis Suarez.

Neither of the teams that played the game we are focused on would have stood a chance against either Brazil, or Uruguay... and those two old rivals have now given the rest of South America a proper benchmark to measure their own performances by. Expect both these teams to go a long way in Russia '18.

Bauza can probably learn a lesson or two from Tite – who has fielded players solely on the basis of performance and not how big, or small, a name the player is. A prime example of his meritocracy is Paulinho (who is currently playing in China – an automatic disqualifier for most coaches) and the midfielder rewarded him for it with a sublime hat-trick today.

Oh and Neymar, as ever when he wears that canary yellow, laid down the gauntlet with a stellar performance and a superbly taken goal. He is arguably the best player (for a national team) in the world right now.