( CNN ) -- Argentina 's star-studded team went top of South America 's 2014 World Cup qualifying group as Lionel Messi inspired a 4-0 thrashing of Ecuador on Saturday . With his top Europe-based players to call on , coach Alejandro Sabella saw his side effectively end the match with three goals after only half an hour . Sergio Aguero , top scorer for English champions Manchester City last season , broke the deadlock in the 20th minute as he celebrated his 24th birthday in style . Strike partner Gonzalo Higuain , who helped Real Madrid to the Spanish title , doubled the lead nine minutes later . Barcelona 's three-time world player of the year Messi made it 3-0 two minutes later to continue his unbelievable scoring form , having netted 73 times for the Spanish club in the recently-completed 2011-12 campaign . Real Madrid winger Angel Di Maria wrapped up the scoring with 15 minutes to play as Argentina moved up to 10 points from five games , just ahead of Chile . Messi was key to the victory , which came ahead of next Saturday 's friendly against Brazil in the United States . The 2014 hosts lost 2-0 to Mexico in a friendly in Texas on Sunday . He combined with Di Maria to set up Aguero 's opener and then linking with Higuain for his own goal before also setting up the final effort . Chile moved onto nine points from five matches with a 2-0 win over bottom team Bolivia , who had Luis Gutierrez sent off in the second half . Midfielder Charles Aranguiz scored against the run of play just before halftime in La Paz , then Gutierrez saw red for a foul on Barcelona 's Alexis Sanchez before Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal wrapped it up with seven minutes to play . Uruguay had earlier gone top on eight points from four games despite being held 1-1 at home by Venezuela , with striker Diego Forlan 's 39th-minute opener canceled out by Salomon Rondon 's late goal . In Asian qualifying , regional champions Japan started the final round with a 3-0 win over Oman in a Group B tie on Sunday . CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda scored in the first half , while Japan-based Ryoichi Maeda doubled the lead after halftime and his blocked shot later allowed Stuttgart striker Shinji Okazaki to seal the victory . `` The importance of winning the first match , the players were very well aware of that and so the match went exactly as I had expected , '' said Japan 's Italian coach Alberto Zaccheroni . `` Before the match some of the players were a little bit too nervous . '' Jordan came from behind to draw 1-1 with Iraq in Sunday 's other Group B fixture in Amman . Ahmad Hayel equalized just before halftime after an early opener by Nashat Akram . Iran snatched a 1-0 win away to Uzbekistan in Group A as substitute Mohammad Reza Khalatbari scored on the counterattack in time added on with virtually the last kick of the game . `` We have won a very important match . We won the match because we have a great coach and players and we played well , '' said Iran 's former Real Madrid and Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz . `` I knew Uzbekistan would go forward in the last minutes , that 's why we changed our tactics and tried to score from counterattacks . We did it and our changes brought us three points . '' Qatar won 1-0 away to Lebanon in the other Groupm A fixture , with Uruguay-born striker Sebastian Soria taking advantage of a defensive mistake to score the only goal just after the hour mark . In African qualifying , Nigeria edged out Namibia 1-0 at Calabar thanks to an 80th-minute goal from Spain-based striker Ikechukwu Uche . Kenya drew 0-0 with Malawi in Sunday 's other Group F opening-round match . New Benin coach Manuel Amoros enjoyed a 1-0 win over Group H rivals Mali , who finished third at January 's Africa Cup of Nations . Togo drew 1-1 with Libya in Group I while Niger and Gabon battled to a stalemate in Group E .
Lionel Messi continues his incredible season as Chile win World Cup qualifier . The 2 -0 win in Buenos Aires puts Argentina top of South American group for Sunday . Argentina in second place after 2 -0 win against bottom nation Bolivia . Japan win opening game of final round of South American group qualifying matches .