Argentina, playing their first match under new coach Jose Pekerman, raced into a 4-0 lead after 54 minutes with a Luciano Figueroa double and a goal apiece from Luis Gonzalez and Javier Zanetti.

Cristian Rodriguez and Javier Chevanton, from a twice-taken penalty, made the scoreline respectable for Uruguay.

In other games, Colombia wasted a hatful of chances as they were held 1-1 by Paraguay in Barranquilla while Bolivia stayed bottom of the group table despite beating Peru 1-0 in a scrappy match in La Paz.

As the South American World Cup qualifying section reaches the halfway mark, Brazil lead with 19 points from nine games with Argentina one point behind. Both look certain to qualify for Germany 2006.

They are followed by Paraguay (15), Chile (12), Ecuador, Uruguay, Venezuela (10) and Colombia, Peru and Bolivia (9). Ecuador and Chile complete the weekend's program in Quito on Sunday.

The top four teams qualify for the finals and the fifth play off against the Oceania region winners for another place.

Pekerman, who took over last month after Marcelo Bielsa unexpectedly ended his six-year reign, admitted to first-night nerves against Uruguay but they were quickly calmed by Gonzalez's sixth-minute opener.

Figueroa, standing in for the injured Hernan Crespo, and Zanetti finished off incisive moves to make it 3-0 before halftime and then Figueroa latched on to Juan Roman Riquelme's pass for the fourth goal.

"I was nervous at the start, it was a new experience," Pekerman told reporters.

"Fortunately, Argentina were very efficent in the first half. We took our chances and that knocked Uruguay out of their stride."

After Gonzalez's early strike, Figueroa gave the hosts a convincing lead in the 32nd minute with a spectacular left-footed effort which underlined Argentina's class on the night.

Zanetti all but wrapped up the game with a goal on the stroke of halftime to make it 3-0.

Blond-haired Figueroa, who plays for Cruz Azul in Argentina, grabbed his second goal ten minutes after the restart to more or less guarantee the points for Pekerman's squad, which had been without veteran midfielder Juan Sebastien Veron on the night.

Argentina soon took their foot off the gas and it was shortly afterwards that Uruguay, being urged forward by several thousand visiting fans, managed to pull a goal back.

However the 63rd minute strike by midfielder Cristian Rodriguez, and the 87th-minute penalty that Javier Chevanton drove past Roberto Abbondanzieri in the Argentine goal proved too little too late.

Zanetti, the scorer of Argen-tina's third goal, admitted the team were happy to have given the fans a show of their potential.

"We're happy because we were able to show the supporters that we're capable of great things," said Zanetti.

"After we had gone 3-0 up, we were in complete control of the game."

Argentina will now go into their midweek match away to Chile on a high, although captain Juan Pablo Sorin admits it will be difficult to replicate Saturday's match.

"Everything went perfectly in the first half. We were on another level," said Sorin.

"We had the rest of the game under control, and our pace and rhythm came to the fore at all the right times.

"But you don't get a lot of results like 4-2. In the qualifiers it's not easy and it will be difficult to play again like we did tonight."

Colombia coach Reinaldo Rueda lamented his team's wastefulness after they had only Freddy Grisales's deflected goal to show for outclassing Paraguay in the first half.

The visitors, notoriously difficult opponents, hit back with an Aureliano Torres goal in the 78th minute.

"Colombia played well but we committed one sin, we didn't convert the chances we created," said Rueda, whose team missed an opportunity to climb to fifth.

"We're still in an embarrassing position...and we have to make up lost ground."

Joaquin Botero's fifth strike of the qualifiers gave Bolivia three points against Peru in a scrappy, bad-tempered game.

The match degenerated in the 84th minute when Bolivia midfielder Luis Gatty Ribeiro was sent off for kicking Juan Jayo in the face.