The goal of Julian Alvarez led a youthful Argentina team to a 1-0 win over Chile in the qualification of the World Cup, so that La Roja's hope was left to reach the tournament hanging on a thread.
The world champions had already sealed the qualification and had the luxury of leaving Lionel Messi on the couch in Nunoa.
Only 16 minutes had disappeared when Alvarez produced a finish that was reminiscent of the eight-time balloon d'Or winner in his splendor, racing on the pass of Thiago Almada and then the ball over the sad Brayan Cortes with the outside of his boot.
An early attempt by Alexis Sanchez, who was well parried by Emiliano Martinez, was the only shot of Chile in the first half, but they insisted on a level after the break.
Lucas Cepeda had three options to drag the host level of Ricardo Gareca, but just couldn't find it from one of them.
First he saw a bright 20-yard strike defeated by Martinez, then his curls from the right corner of the box bent from the Cristian Romero and on the top of the bar.
Cepeda was also wide on the distant post in the 73rd minute when Argentina – who introduced Messi instead of Como – Vico Paz early in the second half – survived.
The Albiceleste could have had a second goal in the dying phases, but Giuliano Simeone was somehow the net after completing Cortes.
That Miss ultimately meant little, because the visitors built an indisputable 10-point lead on Ecuador at the top of the Conmebol qualification group.
Chile in the meantime remains bottom. They are five points in the play-off place with three more games left and will see their slim hope for qualifications extinguished if Venezuela beat Bolivia on Friday.
Data Debrief: South America
The victory of Argentina guarantees that for the third time this century they will complete the top of the Conmebol World Cup qualifying group, also for the tournaments of 2002 and 2014.
Of course they won their third world cup in 2022 after they did not do this for that edition, as the second end behind Brazil, so Lionel Scaloni will be aware that they must support these performances in the United States.
Alvarez was the hero on Thursday and was part of a strong contingent in Atletico Madrid. He was one of the four Athleti players in the line -up of Argentina, next to Simeone, Rodrigo de Paul and Nahuel Molina.
He also scored in the 4-1 Rout of March of Brazil and now has a back-to-back performance for Argentina for the first time since the 2022 World Cup, when he did this against Poland and Australia.