The Chelsea midfielder played 78 minutes of a 1-0 friendly win against Venezuela, but will now miss its upcoming match against Puerto Rico.

Argentina secured its qualification for next year's finals with flying colours, finishing nine points clear at the summit of the CONMEBOL section.

It is a golden period for Argentina, and Fernandez feels the standards within the squad are exceptionally high as a result.

"Coming to the national team is very enjoyable, and we always want to give our best," he said.

"The bar is set very high. What we achieved is already in the past, and we must keep competing.

"You always think about the World Cup, but it's still a long way off. We must continue to strengthen ourselves and do what Scaloni asks of us."

Lo Celso settled Saturday's (AEDT) clash with his fourth international goal, and his first since netting against El Salvador a little more than 18 months ago.

"I'm very happy to be back scoring and wearing this shirt, which is the most beautiful thing," he said. "We made a great effort, the team played a very serious match.

"No one gives up on a ball; competitiveness is what characterises this group. No one can lower the bar; there are exceptional players."

"It was a pretty good first half. We could have done some more," Scaloni added. "The first 20, 25 minutes of the second half were not good. Then we changed the system, and we were a little firmer. We improved.

"We won, but it's not the important thing; we wanted to see how the team was and give players minutes."