Shaun Goater insists he is not calling time on his international career, despite opting to put club before country for the time being.

The Reading striker's season is entering a crucial period and though he says he is proud to pull on the Bermuda shirt, he says he cannot commit to the early stages of the Island's 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.

The 33-year-old spoke with new national coach Kenny Thompson earlier this week as the latter begins the build-up to the first games on the road to Germany in February next year.

In an interview earlier this month, Thompson told the Royal Gazette he would not rule out approaching the likes of Goater and fellow professional David Bascome. However, he said he was not going to be relying on their involvement.

"At this time the concentration is on the home-based players," he said. "We will look at the options of some of the foreign-based players as time goes on. But it's important that we do not place our eggs in that basket, so to speak, because we know from the past that (if we rely) on some of the foreign-based players and then that doesn't materialise for whatever reason then we (won't have) fully prepared the players that are here in Bermuda.

"I have every confidence in the players that we have in Bermuda and we will commit to those first."

Despite the fact that declaring himself unavailable will perhaps draw criticism from some quarters, Goater clearly believes it is for the best.

"Kenny called me and was asking about my availability and I said I just wanted to focus on my football here," Goater said. "It will certainly mean opportunities for the youngsters in Bermuda to represent the Island and who knows what possibilities will come out of that. It is a great opportunity for the BFA to make use of the young talent we have."

Goater said he had not given much thought to the international scene recently as he was concentrating on helping Reading move up the First Division table. After finding himself on the substitute's bench for three games, he has been back in the first team for the last two. Although he is rated as doubtful for Saturday's game against West Brom having suffered a knee injury, he hopes that, when fit, he will become one of the first names on boss Steve Coppell's team sheet.

"This is a really busy time for me, what with moving to a new club, and these things have stopped me thinking about international football," he said.

"But I am not announcing my retirement. I am not saying I will not play for Bermuda again. When the time is right, for both myself, the club and the national coach then we will see."