Marcelo Bielsa's Chile, who are grouped with Spain, Honduras and Switzerland at the World Cup next month, started slowly but made a second-half improvement through two of their star players to beat Zambia 3-0.

Young winger Alexis Sanchez, starting from the bench for a change, made the breakthrough in the 52nd minute. With the African minnows' goal breached, Sanchez eventually made it 2-0 six minutes from time before, two minutes later, former captain Jorge Valdivia put further gloss on the scoreline.

Fellow finals qualifiers Uruguay, meanwhile, were more impressive in overcoming Israel 4-1.

Diego Forlan (14) put the South Americans in front only for Lior Rafaelov to level just before the half-hour mark. However, goals by Alvaro Pereira (36) and a double in the last six minutes from veteran striker Sebastian Abreu secured what proved to be a comfortable night's work.