Shea Charles believes the experience of playing Spain’s world level players can improve him for both club and country as he prepares for life in the Premier League.
Northern Ireland’s 5-1 friendly setback in Palma was a painful night for Michael O’Neill’s team, but one that potentially have long-term benefits.
Exposure to this level of opponent is crucial to Northern Ireland’s preparations for next year’s World Cup qualifiers, but for Charles, it was also a taste of the sort of level of opposition he and Southampton can look forward to after their promotion from the Championship.
“It’s just different when you don’t have a lot of the ball,” the 20-year-old added. “That might happen more in the Premier League when you’re up against better players, it’s almost like a test of what it’s going to be like.”
Charles rose through the ranks at Manchester City before joining Southampton last summer. He met Rodri in training matches numerous times, but the task was intensified when they came face-to-face on the international stage.
“It’s not ejoyable, to be completely honest,” Charles added. “The way he controls the game, I don’t think anybody does it like him. It’s always fantastic to face up against the top players in the world on the international stage.
“You know what you’re coming up against but it’s simply, how can you stop him controlling the game? We have a game plan to try and stop him but it’s hard to stop a player of such ability. He’s so dedicated, you can see it, it’s simply completely different when you’re up against him in a competitive game.”
Northern Ireland stunned Spain when Daniel Ballard headed them in ahead just 70 seconds in, timing his run perfectly to meet a free-kick from St Mirren’s Caolan Boyd-Munce, who only found out on Saturday morning he would be making his international debut.
“It meant a lot to even get the nod, but then to start the way we started with big Dan’s header, it’s the stuff of dreams,” Boyd-Munce said. “We were brought back down to earth, yet it’s the stuff of dreams.
“We poked the bear but there’s so much learning in it for us and we chatted about it after, both the good and bad. There’s always benefits. We had our own opportunities but there’s so much to take from it.
“You have to meet (the task) full on, it’s sink or swim isn’t it? There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain in games like these. It’s what can we learn. There’s no point going into it with a belligerent attitude. We put our best game forward and see what we can learn from it.”
Ballard could put his goal up there alongside the best moments he has enjoyed on a football ground, but just as important was the opportunity to learn from the mistakes Northern Ireland committed.
After Pedri levelled in the 12th minute, goals from Alvaro Morata and Fabian Ruiz each side of Pedri’s second made it 4-1 at the break, with Mikel Oyarzabal adding a fifth on the hour.
“I think you look at players like Morata, his movement was really good and really hard to deal with it,” Ballard added. “Playing next to Jonny (Evans), it was wonderful to chat to him about what we’d done poorly at the moment.
“Their movement is so sharp, that’s the level we all want to play at so it’s nice to have these experiences and hopefully next time we can do better.”
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