DOMINIC SOLANKE is using the pain of falling short in last year’s Under-19’s European Championship to motivate England to win Sunday’s U20 World Cup final.
The Three Lions face Venezuela at the Suwon World Cup stadium in Korea after they came back from behind to Italy on Thursday to secure a spot in the final two.
Solanke grabbed a brace in that semi-final but the pain of the 2-1 defeat to Italy last July still haunts the Liverpool-bound star who wants to exercise some demons.
The striker told thefa.com: “It’s our time. Everyone will be rooting for us back home, so hopefully we can make them proud,”
“The determination we have is what drives us on. We know that even if we’re losing we can bring it back.
“The disappointment we had in the U19 Euros last year [losing in the semi-final], going out in that, we know that feeling, so we want to go and win this time.
“There have been no special words from the manager, he’s just told us to put this behind us and focus on the next game, as he always does.
“There’s one more game that we need to go and win and if we do it right we’ll be champions.
“We’ve seen some of Venezuela’s games and we know what a good team they are.
“It’s down to the last two now, so you’re never going to have an easy final.”
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The former Chelsea starlet is one goal away from becoming the joint leading scorer in the competition and another double away from winning it outright.
Previous winners of the accolade are Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi and Solanke admits he would love to join that prestigious list.
He said: “I haven’t thought about being the top goalscorer, I’ve just been focusing on winning, but that would be a really good achievement for me and I would love to do that.
“After that win we’re all confident we can now go on and win on Sunday.”
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