Spain 2-1 Belgium: Match Report as Merino’s Late Strike Books Semi-Final Spot

Spain 2-1 Belgium: Match Report as Merino’s Late Strike Books Semi-Final Spot

Final Score: Spain 2-1 Belgium Goals: Fabián Ruiz 30′ (Spain), Charles De Ketelaere 41′ (Belgium), Mikel Merino 88′ (Spain) Venue: Los Angeles Stadium, Inglewood, California Competition: FIFA World Cup 2026, Quarterfinal

Spain reached their first World Cup semi-final since 2010 with a dramatic 2-1 win over Belgium on Friday, needing a stoppage-time-adjacent winner from substitute Mikel Merino to separate two sides who had been locked at 1-1 for the better part of an hour. It was Merino’s second decisive intervention off the bench in as many knockout matches, and it sends Spain into a mouth-watering semi-final against tournament favourites France on Tuesday, July 14, in Dallas.

How the Match Unfolded

Spain controlled the early tempo at Los Angeles Stadium, dominating possession and probing patiently for an opening. The breakthrough arrived in the 30th minute, when a scramble in the Belgian box fell to Fabián Ruiz, who found a tight finish to give La Roja the lead — extending, at the time, a defensive record that had seen Spain concede nothing across the entire tournament to that point.

Belgium responded before the interval, and the equaliser was a genuine moment of quality rather than a scrambled reply. Kevin De Bruyne recycled a Timothy Castagne delivery back into the box, and Charles De Ketelaere rose above Pau Cubarsí to power a header beyond Unai Simón in the 41st minute — the first goal Spain had conceded at this World Cup, ending their clean run in some style. The two sides went into the break level at 1-1, with Pedro Porro curling a late first-half effort just wide as Spain searched for an immediate response.

A Tense Second Half, Shaped by Injury

The match’s tactical picture shifted significantly in the second half following an injury to Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who was forced off and replaced by Senne Lammens in what became, in hindsight, the pivotal substitution of the match. Belgium had already been missing captain Youri Tielemans, ruled out with an injury sustained in the warm-up, adding to the disruption facing Rudi Garcia’s side as the game wore on.

Chances came at both ends through a tense, physical second half. Spain continued to dominate territorially, with Lamine Yamal, Mikel Oyarzabal, and Yamal again testing Belgium’s goalkeepers, while Belgium threatened on the counter through Jérémy Doku and De Bruyne, with Unai Simón forced into an important intervention after an ill-advised, high-risk moment outside his own box. Neither side could find a second goal through open play, and the match looked destined for extra time as it entered its final ten minutes.

Merino Strikes Again

Spain turned to Mikel Merino in the 86th minute, and the substitution needed only two minutes to pay off. Pau Cubarsí’s long-range effort was spilled by Lammens under pressure, and Merino was quickest to react, pouncing on the rebound to slam the ball home and send the Spanish end of Los Angeles Stadium into raptures. It was a cruel way for Belgium’s World Cup to end — undone by a mistake from a goalkeeper who had only been on the pitch for roughly 15 minutes — but for Spain, it was the second consecutive knockout match settled by an identical script: Merino introduced from the bench, and Merino delivering the decisive moment, having also scored the injury-time winner that eliminated Portugal in the Round of 16.

Belgium, appearing in what was likely the final World Cup for several of their most experienced players — Axel Witsel, De Bruyne, Courtois, and Romelu Lukaku among them — could not find a way back in the closing minutes, and the final whistle confirmed Spain’s passage through to the last four.Why Spain Quietly Became the Most Dangerous Team Left in the World Cup

The Numbers Behind the Result

Spain’s control of the match was reflected in the underlying statistics, generating 2.08 expected goals across the 90 minutes to Belgium’s 0.38 — a gulf that made the closeness of the actual scoreline feel, in some respects, fortunate for the Red Devils until Merino’s late intervention settled the argument for good. Spain’s continued dominance of possession, a hallmark of their tournament so far, again shaped the pattern of the match, even as Belgium’s disciplined defensive structure limited clear-cut chances for long stretches.

What It Means

The win sends Spain into a semi-final against France, a side that reached the last four with a perfect record through five matches after eliminating Morocco 2-0 on the same day. It will be Spain’s first World Cup semi-final appearance since their triumphant 2010 campaign, a milestone that comes after a difficult run of tournaments in between — group-stage elimination in 2014, and consecutive Round of 16 penalty shootout exits in 2018 and 2022.

For Belgium, the defeat brings the curtain down on a golden generation that reached the semi-finals in 2018 but was unable to fully replicate that success in the years since. With Witsel, De Bruyne, Courtois, and Lukaku all in their thirties, Friday’s quarterfinal defeat may prove to be the final World Cup appearance for several of the players who defined an era of Belgian football, closing one chapter even as Spain’s own new generation, led by 18-year-old Lamine Yamal, opens the next stage of theirs in Dallas on Tuesday.

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