Cunningham ready to strike - Jamaican forward on the verge of notching all-time MLS scoring record

Gordon Williams, Gleaner Writer

GEORGIA, United States:

Jeff Cunningham could barely mask his joy. The 34-year-old from a small district in St James just couldn't shut down the wide grin or stifle the excitement in his laughter after talking with a world leading television news network.

"I made it brethren!" Cunningham finally burst out.

"Yo, CNN! Look from where me come from? Little ghetto inna Albion, Jamaica, MoBay. CNN interview me!"

The international spotlight had good reason to seek out Cunningham. Just over a week before the start of his 14th Major League Soccer season, the network went to "discover" the 5' 8" striker who, with 132 goals, is just two shy of setting a new all-time MLS regular season scoring record.

Yet to those who follow North America's top professional football league, Cunningham is no secret. He started his career with the Columbus Crew in 1998 - after being drafted ninth overall by the club out of the University of South Florida - and set the rookie record with eight goals that year. He found the net 62 times in 182 games during a six-year stint at the club.

However, in the years that followed, Cunningham bounced from one club to the next - first Colorado Rapids, then Real Salt Lake and Toronto F.C., before spending the last three seasons at F.C. Dallas. He is back with the Crew, but unflattering whispers have dogged him in the past.

"When he was young he was too much of a dribbler with the ball; he never passes," explained Ricardo Iribarren, a former Crew teammate, now an assistant coach at the club. "But I think with experience he understood what's good for him and now he's unbelievable."

Others found Cunningham odd off the field as well. Yet many MLS veterans, including former teammates, prefer to argue that Cunningham is just "different" from what most Americans expected - a talented, strong-willed, independent and hard-working pro from Jamaica.

SCORING MACHINE

Whatever the case, the diminutive striker lit up the scoresheet at every MLS stop. Twice - 2006 (16 goals) and 2009 (17 goals) - he earned the league's 'Golden Boot' as the season's top scorer. Last year, he found the net 11 times for F.C. Dallas, often playing as a substitute. Overall, Cunningham notched 33 goals in 66 appearances for the team. So many were puzzled when F.C. Dallas, after reaching the MLS Cup final in 2010, did not re-sign him. The Crew gladly snapped him up in the MLS Re-Entry Draft.

"It was a surprise," said Iribarren, "but a good surprise for us. He scored goals on us and was always a threat when we played against him."

Yet, despite Cunningham's success, playing in possibly football's most high-profile and demanding position, he has hardly been embraced as a star in the US.

Meanwhile the MLS, still yearning for international approval, has lured once elite players with rich salaries by creating a designated player rule, a way to separate those high-priced imports from the comparably modest compensation earned by most MLS players.

Cunningham, the league's greatest active scoring machine, was guaranteed $230,125 in 2010, while England's David Beckham (US$6.5 million), Thierry Henry of France (US$5.6 million) and Mexico's Rafael Marquez (US$5.5 million) raked in considerably more.

The irony has not gone unnoticed.

"The system isn't fair," said Cunningham with a shrug. "You know what I mean? ... A suh life set up. I'm not gonna grudge a next man for what he has ... But at the same time ... all the people (that) deal with the contract thing, you know, didn't do me right over my career."

Some believe Cunningham has been shortchanged in more ways than one.

"Jeff has done it," added Matt Reis, a US international goalkeeper who entered MLS the same year as Cunningham and now plays for the New England Revolution.

"He maybe hasn't gotten enough credit as he's deserved, but anybody in the league and anybody that knows soccer knows his quality."

The exact reason for Cunningham's perceived slight is harder to publicly pin down.

Players with much shorter MLS resumés, such as once heralded phenom Freddy Adu, have cashed in with big contracts and national advertising endorsements.

"To me, it's a lot of politics involved in why Jeff hasn't gotten the recognition," reasoned Shalrie Joseph, the Grenadian-born star of the Revolution.

"But with Jeff being so humble, I think he just moves forward and he tries to play and puts it aside. That's the kind of individual he is."

DIFFERENCE

What separates Cunningham from most other strikers is his array of weapons. He's fast, skilful with the ball and has a predator's instinct for goal.

"I'm in love with his game," said Joseph, "from the way he attacks, to the way he gets balls and turns and scores."

Yet apart for a few all-star appearances, Cunningham is still hovering low on America's football radar. That may explain his scratchy international career, which includes one cap for Jamaica and 14 - with a single goal - for his adopted country the US.

Cunningham claims Jamaica "dash mi whey", after a 2001 friendly in Africa. Later that year he was sworn in as an American citizen, but has never had a sustained run in the US national team.

He chalked up the disappointments to the "system". Jamaica's football, Cunningham said, was in transition after the successful World Cup campaign in 1998 and he probably got lost in the shuffle. The US, he conceded, had a surplus of quality players at striker during his prime.

But Cunningham has no regrets. He won't allow anything to remove the shine from his work.

"It's a big accomplishment," he said of his scoring feat, which has put him a single strike behind retired Jaime Moreno.

"And not to really ever been the face of an organisation or even given an opportunity to stand up in the national team and prove myself or whatever."

CREDIT

Much of the credit goes to his mother, Delores Morgan, who he said struggled to raise five children. Cunningham, who moved to the US at age 14, said she encouraged her children to compete hard.

"She always remind me 'just do the best at whatever it is'," he said. "'Take pride in it'."

The married father of an infant daughter has no plans to retire anytime soon. He's excited about his new season, which kicks off March 19 at D.C. United. Cunningham has set a target of 20 goals in 2011. But it's the first one, then the second, which will get most attention. He plans to enjoy the ride into history.

"The season will have a lot of challenges," Cunningham said. "Lots of ups and down. So what's important now is to have fun."

It's easy to tell Cunningham is raring to grab Moreno's record and move on. Maybe the March 19 date at the Bolivian's former club will be the time. Maybe not. But whenever football's spotlight finally falls on him, Cunningham vows to be ready.

"I'll have to brace myself," he said.

The smile won't go away.