The Colombians, runner-up at the last two editions of the South American Football Confederation event, showed little mercy at the Estadio La Portada in La Serena.

The curtain had barely risen on the tournament when they took the lead in the opening match, as Catalina Usme found the net with just two minutes played.

Daniela Montoya doubled Colombia’s advantage 15 minutes later, the captain’s strike giving them a cushion.

Yoreli Rincón and Usme’s second of the game on the stroke of half-time effectively wrapped up the win.

Colombia continued to press home their advantage in the second half, with Usme completing her hat-trick in the 57th minutes, before Isabella Echeverri added another one minute later.

Uruguay were able to prevent further damage until injury time, where Usme scored her fourth of the game to seal a 7-0 win.

The second Group A match proved a far closer affair, with hosts Chile sharing the points with Paraguay.

Paraguay took the lead in the second half when Gloria Villamayor found the net shortly after half-time.

Yanara Aedo responded seven minutes later, with the teams ultimately playing out a 1-1 draw.

Teams have been divided into two groups with hosts Chile drawn in Group A alongside Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru.

Group B contains reigning champions Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Venezuela and Bolivia, with their first matches set to take place tomorrow.

The teams are scheduled to play each other once in the group stage in the hope of ending in one of the top two spots, which will put them through to the final stage.

The tournament champion will qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 and the Pan American Games in Lima next year. 

The second team will also qualify for the World Cup and Pan American Games, but will only be given an Olympic qualification playoff spot, where they will come up against an African team.

The third place team will be given a World Cup play-off place, where they would face a team from the Americas, and a spot at Lima 2019.

The team bottom of the final table will be out of Olympic and World Cup contention and will have to settle for just a slot at the Pan American Games.