CATHERINE HALL, St James — The playing surface at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall will be ready to host next week’s women’s friendly international between World Cup-bound Jamaica and Paraguay, the Jamaica Observer has been told.

Aubrey Duncan, head groundsman for the complex, said on Thursday — a week before the game — that despite the short preparation period, they have done a lot of work and the field will be ready.

Officials from the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) met with the St James Municipal Corporation, the entity under which the complex falls, and also made an inspection of the field on Tuesday when the green light was given.

“The surface is much better,” Duncan said.

“It is not 100 per cent, it is not the best we have seen it, also it is not the worst either.”

He admitted there are areas of bother.

“There are some weeds that we have had to be dealing with ever since we started the work. [We are] not sure what we will be able to do between now and match time but we have done all we can do.”

Xavier Gilbert, a member of the women’s senior national team coaching staff, has been to the complex to look at the field himself and was satisfied with the conditions.

“Progress has been made,” Gilbert told the Observer on Thursday.

“We knew that we were not going to get a great surface and if we are being fair, they were not given a lot of notice in which to start the work.”

The coach said he was confident they would get a good enough field to play and said that though the facility had not been used for two years, he had confidence in Duncan as “a professional” who “knows what he is doing”.

A Jamaica Premier League double-header in May was the only football that has been played at the venue since December 2019 as the arrival of the novel coronavirus pandemic had seen the cessation of sports on the island.

The field, which had been used as a medical facility during the lockdown, was roundly criticised by the teams that played there in May.

Duncan said the plan is to continue working on the surface with the likelihood of the St James-based venue hosting Jamaica Premier League and schoolboy football matches.

“We have a lot more work to do and in between games; we are going to be doing our best to make sure that we not only maintain it, but improve the surface.”

“The bulk of the work will not start until May next year when the season is over and we will have the time to really get a lot of work done,” he explained.