World Cup heartbreak as Sheffield Wednesday star dealt heavy blow - while teammate left out
There will be sadly be no World Cup venture for Sheffield Wednesday's Pierce Charles this summer.
Charles, 20, was back in the Northern Ireland setup and back into the starting XI for his nation after recovering from injury recently, but he was unable to help them push on in their quest to qualify for this summer’s FIFA World Cup.
The Northern Irish held their own for long periods at the New Balance Arena in Bergamo, but goals from Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean in the second half mean t that it was Italy who would be heading through to the play-off final next week. Charles could do nothing more with the goals that were score, but will certainly stil be disappointed not to take a step close to the showpiece event coming up in a few months’ time.
Elsewhere, there was no place for Gabriel Otegbayo as the Republic of Ireland’s U21s took on Moldova in a European Under-21 Championship Qualifying fixture, with the 21-year-old not even making the bench as his counterparts played out a 1-1 draw that dented their hopes of reaching the next round.
They’re now six third in Group D after six games, five points behind second-placed Slovakia and seven points adrift of England. Otegbayo will now be hoping to feature in their next game, which is a clash with Kazakhstan on March 31s in Turkistan… Victory is vital if they’re going to keep their hopes alive.
Elsewhere, Jamal Lowe and Jamaica will be in action in the early hours of tomorrow morning as they look to make it past New Caledonia to take a ste closer to this summer’s World Cup finals, with a spot against the Democratic Republic of Congo awaiting the winner of their clash that’s due to get underway at 3am GMT.