BUENOS AIRES: Argentinean coach Edgardo Bauza does not believe Argentina rely on Lionel Messi after the country’s all-time leading goal scorer and skipper scored the winning penalty against Chile. Messi’s first-half penalty settled Thursday’s CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier as Argentina edged South American champions Chile 1-0 in Buenos Aires. It was the five-time Ballon d’Or winners 58th international goal, which helped Argentina move up in the standings, eight points adrift of leaders Brazil. Asked about Messi’s importance to Argentina, Bauza told reporters: “I do not think the team is Messi-dependent. “I think he played a good game. Time to work, we will improve.” Messi’s 16th-minute spot-kick separated the two South American giants at the Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti. The referee awarded a penalty after Jose Fuenzalida had brought down Angel Di Maria in the area. Chile had a goal correctly ruled out for offside before Nicolas Otamendi missed a golden opportunity for Argentina. Alexis Sanchez rattled the crossbar with a free-kick as Chile left empty-handed. “I’m very happy because we won a game that came out as we imagined it,” Bauza said. “For me, the team played a great game of football and contained a good footballing team like Chile. “We failed to recover the ball. We could not have it in the last 15 minutes. We won against a great rival. “For me, we did not play a bad game at all.” The coach remarked after his side’s narrow win.