Argentina entertain the Chileans at the Monumental in Buenos Aires in one of four matches on the opening day of the South American group. The section involves nine countries since hosts Brazil are exempt from qualifying.
South American champions Uruguay, semi-finalists at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, host Bolivia, Venezuela travel to Ecuador at high altitude in Quito and losing Copa America finalists Paraguay visit Peru in Lima.
Argentina's lack of recent success can be traced back to a qualifier for the previous World Cup when Chile, then coached by Argentine Marcelo Bielsa, won 1-0 in Santiago.
Chile's first victory over their neighbours in a competitive match led to the resignation of coach Alfio Basile, the man who delivered Argentina's last major trophy when he won back to back Copa America titles in 1991 and 1993 during a previous stint in charge.
Argentina's defeat sparked a rollercoaster of results under Diego Maradona whose side almost failed to reach the 2010 World Cup.
Maradona's team were also humiliated 4-0 by Germany in a quarter-final in Cape Town and then new coach Sergio Batista failed with his stated intent to deliver the Copa America title on home soil earlier this year.
"We have to get results once and for all and turn round the failures because when you win everything gets easier," Messi told reporters this week.
Chile are also two key men short with Alexis Sanchez, Messi's Barcelona team-mate, recovering from a thigh injury and midfield enforcer Gary "Pitbull" Medel banned.
Uruguay's strong side are under no illusions that the qualifiers could be tougher than the Copa America they won in July, having advanced to the 2002 and 2010 World Cups through play-offs with teams from other continents.
