Dion Charles claims that Northern Ireland’s victory over Denmark gives them hope for the future.
Dion Charles thinks Michael O’Neill’s team can soon be challenging to qualify for a major tournament once again, as demonstrated by Northern Ireland’s victory over Denmark on Monday night.
Before the Group H final, all hopes of qualifying for Euro 2024 had vanished, but Northern Ireland saved their best for the last night of the competition, when goals in the second half from Charles and Isaac Price lifted the Windsor Park crowd after a depressing run of results.
It was the kind of evening that can instill confidence and belief in a team lacking in both, as O’Neill had to rely on a number of young players during a horrendous string of injuries.
Charles remarked, “That was more like it; it was a brilliant result.” Although it required a lot of work, in the end we were rewarded. Since we had nothing to lose, we ventured outside without fear.
The underdogs were us. Although they were an excellent team, we were aware that we would always have opportunities if we could stay in the game and put in the necessary effort.
Although we haven’t won many games this campaign, we were excellent when we did have the chance.
The next competitive match for Northern Ireland is not until September; friendlies are scheduled for March and June before the Nations League returns. Despite this lengthy wait, Charles hopes his team can use this result as a springboard.
He remarked, “It will definitely give us belief and confidence going forward and that more nights like this are possible with the hard work we put in.”
All of us must commit to and put forth a lot of effort in the upcoming campaigns. Our goal is to earn a spot in a significant competition.
In our group, Denmark was the highest seed, but we defeated them. All we have to do is play every game the way we did here.
For the 28-year-old, who has been frustrated by the referees on numerous occasions, it was his first goal at Windsor Park. However, the Bolton striker handled himself well when facing Andreas Christensen of Barcelona and relished his benefits.
“Achieving my first goal at Windsor Park was amazing,” he remarked. “After a few of my goals were disqualified for VAR, I wasn’t sure if I should celebrate or not, but when the goal was awarded, I was ecstatic.
“It was a good experience for me to test myself against a player of Christensen’s caliber; our battle lasted the entire game.
“With this group of young players we have, hopefully we’ve made the fans proud and shown them that the future can be bright.”
