Pierce Charles is enjoying a meteoric rise at the moment, and the Sheffield Wednesday ace represented his country once more this week, but he will be disappointed with a big mistake he made during the game.
Sheffield Wednesday may be relying on James Beadle between the sticks this season, but in Pierce Charles, they have one of the best young goalkeepers in the Football League.
He’s already made a big impression in Danny Rohl’s side this year, and it’s been enough to catch the eye of Northern Ireland manager, Michael O’Neill.
Charles has played the full 90 minutes in the last four international games for his country, but his latest performance is one he will want to put behind him quickly.
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Pierce Charles makes big mistake for Northern Ireland
With his side leading 2-0 against Luxembourg on Monday night, it seemed Northern Ireland were on their way to a comfortable win, but they were pegged back and the game ended 2-2.
Unfortunately, Charles was largely to blame for Luxembourg’s first goal. With 71 minutes on the clock, the hosts fired a free-kick from deep right to the back post, where Seid Korac was lurking.
The centre-half poked the ball goalward, though right at Charles, but the Wednesday youngster could not deal with the shot and ended up tipping the ball into his own net.
Just a few minutes later, Luxembourg were level, but in fairness, Charles could do very little about Gerson Rodrigues’ fine finish.
The Belfast Telegraph gave Charles a rating of six out of ten for his performance, writing: “The Sheffield Wednesday glove man had little major action, similar to last Friday’s Windsor Park victory over Belarus – until Luxembourg’s goal by Seid Korac which he should have kept out.”
Meanwhile, Belfast Live said Charles “will be disappointed he didn’t keep out Seid Korac’s goal.”
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Pierce Charles has a bright future at Sheffield Wednesday
While that international blunder will likely haunt Charles for some time, he can still reflect on what has been a hugely positive start to the season for club and country.
At just 19-years-old, he is already making a case for being Northern Ireland’s number one goalkeeper long-term, and has a very good chance of being the top goalkeeper in the Sheffield Wednesday squad next season, too.
Pierce Charles recently smashed a seven-year old record for his country thanks to his clean sheet against Belarus last week. Meanwhile, Danny Rohl has highlighted Charles as ‘the future’ of Sheffield Wednesday.
With Beadle’s loan spell at Wednesday set to end next summer and his future unclear, there is every chance that Charles will be promoted for the 2025/26 campaign.