MONTEGO BAY, St James – AFTER being originally scheduled as a practice facility only, St James’ oldest sporting venue, Jarrett Park, will now host five games and three straight days of competition in the CONCACAF Under-17 FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament.

The venue was pressed into service almost at the last minute last week after the field at the Trelawny Multipurpose stadium failed an inspection by a team from CONCACAF.

The plan last week was for Jarrett Park, which hosted all the games in the 1999 qualifying tournament to host two game days, Wednesday (yesterday) and Friday (tomorrow).

However CONCACAF decided yesterday to switch today’s double header from the Montego Bay Sports Complex to Jarrett Park. Only one of two scheduled games was played at Jarrett Park yesterday after Haiti who were scheduled to play El Salvador withdrew from the tournament because of a malaria scare.

According to a release from CONCACAF yesterday the move of additional games to Jarrett Park came as a means to “preserving the quality of the field (at the Montego Bay Sports Complex) for the remainder of the competition….”

Panama played Cuba in one game yesterday while today, Canada will play Barbados and Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago will meet.

On Friday, Costa Rica and El Salvador will meet in the opener followed by the USA vs Panama.

The release went on to confirm that “The quarterfinals, semi-finals, thirdplace match and final, which will be televised internationally, are all scheduled to be played at Catherine Hall Stadium.”

There were concerns with the field at Catherine Hall after large divots were created from Monday’s first game between Costa Rica and Haiti. The field appears to have deteriorated badly in the subsequent three games.

Before Jarrett Park could be given the green light, organisers of the tournament requested a number of improvements and additions including the construction of a media centre, accommodation for match commissioners and referees assessors, medical centre, a hospitality area as well as work on the dressing rooms and bathrooms.

Adrian Grant, chairman of the Jarrett Park Management Committee (JPMC) and the person with responsibility for the preparation of the venue, reported on Tuesday that Jarrett Park was ready.

Grant said Jarrett Park was always “ready for business” and “we knew we were on call and we will deliver what we are asked to deliver by CONCACAF.”

Grant told the Observer West that the authorities at Jarrett Park measured their work on the field at international standards even though there were concerns regarding bare patches on the cricket pitch.

Jarrett Park was given the thumbs up by the American head coach Wilmer Cabrera who blasted the surface at Catherine Hall after their 3-1 win over Cuba on Monday.

Cabrera described the field in a post game press conference as “horrible, dangerous.

“It’s hard, that field and it is not in a good condition to play soccer,” said Cabrera. He claimed the Jarrett Park field where the USA played Jamaica twice last month was much better.

“Jarrett Park is much better than this field, it is bad, bumpy and dangerous,” he said.