DENVER -- Omar Cummings may wear white boots; he may wear yellow ones. Either way, he is scoring blistering goals that few others in the league can match.
Thierry Henry may have been the biggest star on the field when the Colorado Rapids took on the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, but Cummings was the striker who scored the most memorable goal of the game.
Just like he did for most of the match, the Jamaican international ran menacingly at a slew of New York defenders and proceeded to bury one into Bouna Coundoul’s top right hand corner from 35 yards out. It must be a contender for MLS goal of the season.
WATCH: Omar Cummings' spectacular long range strike
But Cummings frequently scores spectacular goals. Saturday’s may have come from farther out, but he did something similar against Seattle at the end of July. He scored a beautiful individual goal against Chivas USA earlier this month and he also notched a 25-yard bullet for Jamaica last week.
All this is great for Colorado as the team enters the business end of the season. Cummings is red hot with nine goals on the season and four in the last three games.
The only negative question that pops up from a Colorado standpoint: How long can the team keep hold of him? Cummings has already had a well publicized approach from Mexican club Necaxa and there are also reports that clubs in the English Championship have approached him. In his current form, maybe it ought to be Premier League clubs approaching him.
If they do, they will have to come up with realistic offers. The Jamaican is in his prime and foreign clubs cannot look at MLS and assume a cheap deal for a talented player. Gary Smith, Cummings’ head coach at the Rapids, knows the score.
“The league is right,” Smith told MLSsoccer.com after Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to the Red Bulls. “The clubs will have to stump up the money and pay a guy who is as exciting as that. For our part, we will do our utmost to reward the lad for his really good form.”
Cummings, in the meantime, will let his boots do the talking. Yellow ones or white.
