Honolulu, Hawaii - It turned out that Hawaii was only the halfway point for Omar Cummings this week. The forward is set leaving the Rapids camp today to join the Jamaican National Team for a friendly next Wednesday at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.
"It's been a while since I was with the Reggae Boyz," Cummings told ColoradoRapids.com Friday. "The Jamaican team has been playing a couple of games against Cuba in Jamaica, winning the first one with another one today. So I'm looking forward to getting back on the national team and getting back in that rhythm, and hopeful get some playing time."
Cummings has started all three preseason games for the Rapids against professional sides so far, including Thursday's match against Yokahama FC, which was his last with the club before the season opener on March 10.
"I'm not entirely happy with the performance," he said of the last match. "I didn't get a ton of opportunities as a forward, but we'll keep working on it. It was a close game and the field was narrow so we didn't have that much space. But with the opportunities that we got, we should have done better."
At first the team had hoped to have Cummings available for Saturday's match. However the challenge to cross the international date line west would add a day to his travel. In order to join the Jamaican team on time, Cummings will fly back to Los Angeles before connecting on a flight to New Zealand later Saturday. He will return to Colorado later next week.
