Dominique Solanke (Bournemouth), who won the Golden Ball at the U-20 World Cup held in South Korea in 2017, has finally grown into one of the best strikers in the Premier League.
Bournemouth came from behind to beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 in the 18th round of the 2023/24 Premier League away match at The City Ground in Nottingham, England, on the 24th (Korea time).
On this day, the home team Nottingham faced a bad news that defender Willie Bolley was sent off for accumulating warnings in the 23rd minute of the first half. Bolley, who received a warning in the 5th minute of the first half, received a red card with a second warning for a rough tackle 18 minutes later.
It was Nottingham that Nunu Espiritu Santo, the new head coach who was appointed on the 20th, scored the first goal while one player was sent off from the first half of his Nottingham debut. In the second half, Antony Elanga took a penetrating pass from Chris Wood and scored, giving the team the lead.
However, he was happy for a while. Just four minutes after Nottingham scored the first goal, Solanke scored a header equalizer, bringing the game to square one. With momentum, Solanke pushed the ball into the net in a chaotic situation in the box at the 13th minute of the second half to achieve multiple goals, turning the game around.
Nottingham’s ability to fight with 10 players was also strong. At the 29th minute of the second half, Wood scored with a header to make the score 2-2. 토토사이트 순위
With the balance continuing, Solanke decided the winner of the match. In the second half of extra time, Solanke once again shook the Nottingham goal with a header shot, completing a hat-trick and scoring the theater winning goal.
Thanks to Solanke’s outstanding performance, Bournemouth increased its points to 22 (6 wins, 4 draws and 7 losses), jumping to 11th place in the league. On the other hand, Nottingham, which sought to rebound after Nunu’s appointment, struggled despite being outnumbered, but lost due to allowing a theatrical goal, it maintained its 14th point (3 wins, 5 draws and 10 losses) and 17th place.
With three goals at the match against Nottingham, Solanke instantly increased his goal tally to 11 this season, tying for third in the Premier League with Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur) and Jerod Boen (West Ham United). He is only three goals shy of the top scorer Erling Holan (14 goals, Manchester City).
Solanke won the Golden Ball at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea when he participated as a member of the English national team and scored four goals to lead his country to the championship.
Solanke received a lot of attention as there have been many cases where players who have performed well in the U-20 World Cup, which is a place of opportunity for promising players, grow into world-class players in the future. Prior to Solanke, Paul Pogba (2013), Sergio Aguero (2007), and Lionel Messi (2005) were also from the Golden Bull at the U-20 World Cup, and Lee Kang-in (PSG) won the Golden Ball in 2019.
Solanke, then a member of Chelsea, moved to Liverpool, a prestigious club in the Premier League, after the U-20 World Cup. However, he failed to secure a chance in Liverpool, so he only scored one goal and one assist in the first division for two years and moved to Bournemouth, his current club, in 2019.
Solanke, who had consistently received opportunities to play for Bournemouth, began to enlighten his potential. While Bournemouth were in the second tier of the Championship in the 2020/21 season, Solanke had 15 goals and 10 assists in the league, and the following season he scored a whopping 29 goals in the league alone, leading Bournemouth to promotion to the Premier League.
Solanke, who returned to the first division, scored six goals and seven assists in the 2022/23 season, scoring his first double-digit attack points in the Premier League, and scored 11 goals in the first half of this season alone, achieving double-digit Premier League goals for the first time since his professional debut, continuing his success from the World Cup Golden Ball.
