CHERRIES star Lewis Cook will be the first man since Bobby Moore in 1966 to captain England in the final of a World Cup.

Cook led the under-20s to a stirring 3-1 last-four comeback victory over Italy in South Korea today to set up a final clash with Venezuela on Sunday.

The Young Lions suffered a dreadful start to the game, falling behind to a Riccardo Orsolini strike inside two minutes.

That blow merely served to galvanise Cook and his colleagues, however, and England gradually took a stranglehold on the game.

Dominic Solanke nodded fractionally wide and then saw a 25-yard piledriver tipped away by goalkeeper Andrea Zaccagno, as Paul Simpson's team built up a head of steam before the break.

Cook's free-kick 10 minutes after half-time teed-up substitute Sheyi Ojo for a chance the Liverpool forward shanked off target.

But after a sustained bout of pressure on the Italian goal it was another Liverpool player, Solanke, who swooped – when Zaccagno couldn't hold Ojo's delivery – to level with 24 minutes to play.

The equaliser served to further embolden England and 11 minutes later Everton's £11million man Ademola Lookman pounced on another Ojo cross to nonchalantly finish beyond Zaccagno and turn the match on its head.

From there, the shell-shocked Italians never threatened their opponents' hopes of becoming the first England side to reach the final of this competition.

It was left to Solanke to settle matters once and for all, the ex-Chelsea player rifling home from distance for his second goal of the game and third in two matches.

For Cook, who completed the 90 minutes in Jeonju and has been integral to his team's success in the Far East, the victory represented the pinnacle of his embryonic career.

The 20-year-old midfielder, a £7million buy from Leeds last summer, told the Echo yesterday that he believed this could be a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to reach a World Cup final – and the meeting with Italy would be the biggest match of his life.

He will have to rethink that view ahead of his date with history on Sunday (11am), when Venezuela stand in the way of Cook becoming a World Cup winning-captain.