Jamaican football watchers will be keenly observing as their women and men’s national football teams play home and away in a few days.

On November 9, a Reggae Boyz squad of local and North American-based professionals will be on African soil for a friendly international against World Cup-bound Cameroon in that country.

Then, over the following four days the Reggae Girlz — who are preparing for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand come mid-2023 — will face Paraguay in two friendlies. The first will be at Montego Bay Sports Complex at Catherine Hall on November 10. A second friendly international between the two teams will take place three days later at the National Stadium in Kingston.

The men’s away fixture against Cameroon will be outside of the usual FIFA window for international football. That’s the reason Europe-based professionals will be missing from the Jamaica squad since they will be required to honour club commitments.

Obviously it presents a grand opportunity for local-based players, especially, to get a taste of international football in alien conditions — a point underlined by Jamaica Football Federation President Mr Michael Ricketts.

“They will find themselves in environments that are not necessarily familiar to them. This, as far as I am concerned, is part of what it is to play at this level, and it’s important that they learn…as soon as possible,” Mr Ricketts said.

Crucially, the game will allow the Reggae Boyz new coach, Icelander Mr Heimir Hallgrimsson, to take another look at available talent.

Mr Hallgrimsson’s first outing with the Reggae Boyz ended in a 0-3 defeat by two-time FIFA World Cup winners and current contenders Argentina in New Jersey, late September.

Mr Ricketts says the Cameroon game forms part of preparation for assignments including the Nations League, Gold Cup and World Cup 2026 qualifiers.

For the Reggae Girlz, the Paraguay friendly is part of the build-up to the World Cup in July and August next year.

Mr Ricketts says he is satisfied “that we are well on our way for a successful staging of these two matches…” at Catherine Hall and the National Stadium.

However, this newspaper is concerned at reports that the Catherine Hall playing surface will not be at its best.

As we understand it, Catherine Hall served as a medical facility at the height of the novel coronavirus pandemic, when, in any case, there was little or no organised sport allowed.

For reasons not entirely clear to us, restoration of the field only began last month following news that Paraguay will be hosted there.

We are now hearing from Mr Xavier Gilbert, a member of the women’s senior national team coaching staff who was part of an inspection tour, that while “progress” has been made, there won’t be “a great surface” at Catherine Hall.

We hope Mr Gilbert and others are correct in thinking that the field will be good enough for international football by next week Thursday.

We are left to wonder, though, as to why — given all the circumstances — it was decided to host a game at Catherine Hall. All things considered, including player safety and the country’s reputation, why not host both games at the National Stadium?