file-US-based Jamaican footballer Omar Cummings

GORDON WILLIAMS, Contributor

Omar Cummings scored his third goal of the young Major League Soccer (MLS) season on Thursday night and the Jamaican-born striker is hoping his form will earn him a call to the Reggae Boyz squad for upcoming internationals, including World Cup qualifiers next month.

Cummings, who looked sharp all night and narrowly missed with two headers earlier in the game, made a perfectly timed run then neatly re-directed a low cross in the 65th minute to give Colorado Rapids a 1-0 lead against Real Salt Lake on Thursday night.

The goal, his third of the season in the United States' top league, put the Rapids on course for an eventual 2-0 win. It also helped catapult the club to a surprising top spot in the MLS' Western Conference with four wins and four losses.

The early season success has boosted Cummings' confidence and increased his desire to make an impact on Jamaica's national programme during the 2010 World Cup campaign, which begins June 15 against The Bahamas in Kingston.

goal scoring form

"I definitely want to go in there at a time when I'm feeling confident and scoring goals for my team," he said yesterday.

"Definitely, if I am called up, I would like to be in goal scoring form."

Cummings has already attracted the attention of technical director René Simoes, who was in the US recently to watch the 25-year-old St Catherine native play against D.C. United. Yesterday afternoon Cummings, whose goal Thursday was his second in as many games and earned him man-of-the-match honours, said he had not heard any direct word from the Jamaica Football Federation regarding an invitation to the national set-up.

"I didn't get to speak to him (Simoes in Washington)," he said. "I didn't get a chance."

But he is "definitely interested" in an invitation, he said. In the meantime, the striker said he is settling well with the Rapids.

"I'm building confidence," he said. "As the season goes on I'm getting a better feel with who I am playing with and against."

On Thursday he faced Andy Williams of RSL, another seeking to make his way back into the Reggae Boyz fold. Next game he will encounter another Jamaican, Shavar Thomas, who plays for Chivas USA. But Cummings is focused on his own targets. Recently he said he wanted to score at least a dozen MLS goals in 2008. Now he wants more.

"If it was working to my plan I should have more goals," he said.

Still, three goals from eight games means he is well on his way.

Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.