Buenos Aires, Oct 10 (IANS): Lionel Messi said Argentina have plenty of scope for improvement despite leading the region's 2014 Football World Cup qualifying standings.

Argentina will meet Uruguay in Mendoza, Argentina, Thursday before an away clash with Chile in Santiago five days later, Xinhua reports.

"We are getting stronger as a group and team but there is still a long way to go," Messi told Fox Radio del Plata Tuesday night.

"Sometimes it's difficult to play in these World Cup qualifiers because it can be more of a fight than a football match, but we know we have a lot of work to do."

Despite a dour 1-1 draw with Peru in Lima in their most recent fixture last month, Argentina top the standings with 14 points from seven matches, one point ahead of Colombia and Ecuador.

Thursday's opponent Uruguay is fourth with 12 points, ahead of fifth-placed Chile on goal difference.

Argentina boast of an embarrassment of riches in attack and it is still unclear who coach Alejandro Sabella will call upon to join Messi in the starting line-up.

Apart from the Barcelona star, Argentina's wealth of strikers includes Manchester City's Sergio Aguero, Real Madrid's Gonzalo Higuain and Paris Saint-Germain's Ezequiel Lavezzi.

Messi admitted he preferred to play with as many forwards as possible.

"Personally the more players we have near goal the better," Messi said. "It depends on the game but we have some spectacular attacking players and we have to try to make the most of them."