Colombia’s fringe soccer players offered a reminder to coach Jose Pekerman of their capabilities after they convincingly beat a disorganized Cameroon team 3-0 in a friendly match Tuesday.
The hosts were missing most of their first-team stars in Barranquilla as Pekerman looked to experiment with some of his fringe players.
And the Argentine will be delighted with what he saw as the likes of Carlos Sanchez, Carlos Bacca, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado and Jackson Martinez all impressed for Los Cafeteros.
In all honesty their opponents offered little in the way of a goal threat and looked decidedly shaky in defence with Martinez and Bacca continually taking advantage of Cameroon’s suicidal offside trap.
The two front men helped themselves to a goal apiece with Martinez scoring after 23 minutes following a sublime pass from Sanchez and Bacca taking advantage of some woeful defending to score on the hour mark. Substitute Dorlan Pabon scored a delightful chip 10 minutes from time to cap the victory.
Colombia created a host of chances throughout and considering they were without Radamel Falcao, James Rodriguez and Teo Gutierrez it would have pleased Pekerman to see what options he has going into the vital second stage of World Cup qualification next year.
The hosts started off on the front foot and instantly displayed their attacking intentions when Freddy Guarin fired just wide from 18-yards.
As the half wore on the hosts upped the pressure and found it relatively easy to fashion chances due to the wide open spaces left at the back by Cameroon.
The visitors could have gone behind on several occasions when their shaky offside trap just managed to prevent a Colombia player from having a shot on goal.
However they failed to heed the warning and on 23 minutes fell behind.
Martinez, who had looked lively, timed his run to perfection, latching onto a chipped through ball from the impressive Sanchez and emphatically curling the ball into the roof of the net from six-yards out.
It was no less than the hosts deserved after completely dominating a first half where Cameroon failed to register a shot on target.
The second half took on a similar tone to the first and Colombia found themselves two goals ahead on 60 minutes after some awful defending from the visitors.
Following a straight forward cross from the right the ball somehow made its way to Bacca, who finished into the bottom corner from 10-yards.
Martinez then almost scored the goal of the night as his spectacular overhead kick flew narrowly over.
Pabon, who had come on as a second-half substitute, capped off a fine display from Colombia when he broke the offside trap before lifting the ball over the Colombian goalkeeper from just outside the box.