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A year ago, Pierce Charles was lining up for Northern Ireland at the Under-19 Euros.

Now, 12 months on, he’s making last-minute saves to secure a win for Michael O’Neill’s senior team.

It’s a rise that few would have predicted so soon, and the 19-year-old has made a big impression since making his senior debut against Belarus in October.

“In football, you never know what’s around the corner,” Charles said

“I just take every step as it comes, so I wasn’t really thinking ahead to playing for the senior team last summer.

“I was hoping one time in the future, obviously that was my target, but at that time it was just focused on the U19s.

From his first time at Windsor Park, Charles impressed with his ability on the ball with confidence and some eye-catching raking passes forward.

Such is his inexperience in senior football of any kind, Charles has won as many international caps as he has made league appearances for Sheffield Wednesday.

With that in mind, it perhaps isn’t a surprise he struggled to impose his area at times when up against high calibre attackers in Europe.

However, in Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Iceland, when Northern Ireland were put under pressure after being reduced to 10 men with just over an hour to go, he more than held his own.

His most impressive moment came inside the final 60 seconds, when he got a good hand on Isak Bergmann Johannesson’s goalbound header before Ruairi McConville hooked the ball away from danger.

“I think it showed a different side to him,” O’Neill said after the game.

“In the brief time we’ve had with Pierce, he’s played more international games than club games. That’s the challenge, and he needs games.

“Everyone would look at Pierce and know how good he is with his feet, but how he commanded his box was excellent.

There has been a lot of excitement surrounding O’Neill’s young Northern Ireland side, and Tuesday’s performance showcased a different side with the grit shown to get over the line.

It was all the more impressive considering their previous two friendlies had resulted in defeats by Sweden and Denmark, but the defensive display in Belfast was much improved.

“With the 10 men it showed that we can hold on to a result, and obviously the past few games maybe or so we’ve gone up leading and then we’ve thrown it away,” said Charles, who is the younger brother of midfielder Shea.

“I was hoping we could do it, and obviously we did it, so it’s good momentum going into the next.

With World Cup qualifying starting in September, fans are starting to dream about what could be possible over the next 12 months.

O’Neill’s side start their campaign with tricky away matches in Luxembourg and Germany, and also face Slovakia in Group A.

However, within the group the message is clear – to take it “one step at a time”.

“I think we’re all only young. I think we take it one step at a time, and obviously going into September, we’ll do the most we can,” Charles said.

“I think we’ve got to have patience with ourselves as well, because we’ve got a long way to go to what we hope to achieve, especially in the future.”

However, Charles admitted the manner in which Northern Ireland closed out their final friendly with Iceland meant they had some strong momentum heading into September.

“It just fills us with more confidence. It’ll be the last memory that we have until September,” he added.

“So, I think everyone will be more positive now, going into September, rather than if we had lost tonight, for example.

With a squad including estate agents, students and teachers, part-timers Auckland City will go from tourists to facing Bayern Munich with nothing to lose at this month’s Club World Cup in the United States.

The New Zealand side, the winners of the Oceania Champions League in each of the past four years, are the only one of the 32 teams playing in America that are not full-time professionals.

“We’re all used to leaving the house in the morning, going to do the day job and then going and training football at night,” Auckland striker Angus Kilkolly told BBC World Service.

“I work for a power tool brand, a global brand, I manage a sales team there. We’ve got a few other boys who work in sales as well, real estate agents, teachers, a couple of the boys are uni students.

“It’s not easy but it’s something we have always done so we don’t really know any different. It’s no different to going to school and then going to play football after school.

While Kilkolly’s work colleagues will be attending what he calls a “big national sales event”, he will be on the other side of the world representing not only his club but, as Oceania’s only representatives, the country and continent too.

He might return with some great stories.

The tournament begins on Saturday, with Auckland in Group C and drawn alongside three legendary clubs.

They start against six-time European champions Bayern Munich on Sunday, then have a match against Portuguese giants Benfica five days later before taking on Argentina’s Boca Juniors, a side that has won the South American Copa Libertadores on six occasions.

“When the draw got made we were all ecstatic, it’s a dream for us,” added Kilkolly. “These are teams we’re used to watching in the Champions League and European finals so to actually step foot on the same grass as them and compete and hopefully have a really good game.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to show our personalities, show we deserve to be here, and are good footballers.

With Auckland dominating club football in Oceania, this will be their 12th appearance at the Club World Cup, more than any other side.

They came third in 2014, but this year the format has been dramatically changed from previously only having seven sides to now having 32, with 12 from Europe, including Real Madrid, Paris St-Germain, Inter Milan, Manchester City and Chelsea.

But before they go head-to-head with reigning Bundesliga champions Bayern, whose squad includes England’s record goalscorer Harry Kane, Auckland have been keen to enjoy every moment while in the United States.

“We got to spend a few days in Washington and went to see the White House and a few of the monuments, which was cool,” added Kilkolly.

“A lot of us haven’t been to America before so to have a little bit of free time where we could go out and see a lot of the history in the city was awesome.

“The facilities, training grounds have been amazing, and it was also good to get out and see the White House and all these things that you only really see on TV or on the news.”

Kilkolly says his side could compete at the highest level and cause some shock results.

Kilkolly, now 29, had a six-month spell playing in Lithuania when he was 19.

He has recently had some difficult times following the death of his brother three years ago and his father just over a year ago.

“Going through experiences like that doesn’t necessarily change your perspective but enhances your perspective of how valuable life is and how valuable opportunities are,” he said.

“If you get an opportunity and want to do something in life, you have to do it now. You don’t wait for anything.

“The memories [of his brother and father] never fade. I want to make them proud and have my own story. That’s what I’m doing, to live every day trying to do what would make them proud and I know they are watching.”

The world will be looking on as Auckland aim to shock the footballing community.

“We’ve had a lot of experience playing at Club World Cups before and Bayern Munich, Benfica and Boca will be another step,” said Kilkolly. “We’ve played in front of big crowds and against good players before.