Spain Advances to Semi-Final After Dramatic Win Over Belgium

Mikel Merino came on to save Spain’s World Cup campaign with almost his first meaningful touch, a late dagger that broke Belgian resistance and carried the European champions into a semi-final with France in Dallas.

Spain, who had marched into this quarter-final on the back of six straight clean sheets in the tournament, finally conceded. They also finally bent. They did not break.

For long stretches in Los Angeles, Luis de la Fuente’s side looked like the Spain this World Cup has come to know: methodical, calm on the ball, rarely frantic. Not always thrilling, but relentlessly sure of themselves.

Yet this time they needed drama.

Spain strike first, Belgium bite back

The breakthrough came on the half-hour and, fittingly, from the control and quick thinking that define this team.

Dani Olmo, finding space at the edge of the box, drove in a low effort that seemed destined for the corner until Thibaut Courtois flung himself across goal and clawed it out with a superb save. Spain reacted quicker. Fabian Ruiz followed in, collected the rebound and buried it, Courtois still grounded and helpless after his initial heroics.

Spain, in front and in rhythm, looked comfortable. Belgium, though, have lived on the edge all tournament. They came from two goals down to knock out Senegal in extra-time. They dismantled the United States 4-1 in the last 16. This is a group that refuses to fade quietly.

The response arrived in the 41st minute.

Timothy Castagne, given a yard too much on the right, whipped in a teasing cross. Charles De Ketelaere timed his run perfectly, attacked the space between defenders and guided a firm header past Unai Simon. One chance, one ruthless finish. Level again, the game suddenly open.

The equaliser rattled Spain. The clean-sheet streak was gone. So was the sense of invincibility.

Courtois exits, Spain sense a crack

Belgium emerged from the interval emboldened, sensing that Spain’s composure could be disturbed. Kevin De Bruyne started to find pockets of space. Romelu Lukaku wrestled and bullied on the last line. The so-called Golden Generation, perhaps in its last World Cup stand, pushed hard for a moment to define their farewell.

Then came a turning point that felt small at first, huge by the end.

Midway through the second half, Courtois signalled to the bench. The Belgium captain, who had already kept his team in the contest with that outstanding first-half stop from Olmo, could not continue. On came Senne Lammens, thrust into the biggest night of his career with no time to ease in.

Spain did not immediately swarm him, but the shift in mood was unmistakable. Every cross, every shot, every backpass towards the Belgian substitute carried a different weight.

Lamine Yamal, still searching for just his second goal of the tournament, stretched the game wide. Mikel Oyarzabal, Spain’s most reliable finisher so far with four goals in five matches, kept darting into gaps, pulling defenders away. Belgium held on, but the pressure started to squeeze.

Merino’s moment

De la Fuente waited. Then, in the 86th minute, he played one of his final cards: Mikel Merino.

The midfielder barely had time to jog into position before the decisive sequence unfolded.

Pau Cubarsi stepped forward from the back and let fly with a low drive that skidded awkwardly in front of Lammens. The goalkeeper got down but could not hold it. The ball spilled loose inside the area.

Merino reacted first.

He pounced, driving his finish beyond Lammens and into the net. Two minutes after stepping onto the pitch, he had tilted an entire World Cup quarter-final.

Belgium, stunned, tried to summon one last surge. De Bruyne probed, Lukaku fought for scraps, crosses rained into the Spanish box. Spain, who had built this run on defensive steel, returned to type and saw it out with a calmness that has become their calling card.

Golden Generation running out of road

For Belgium, this World Cup always carried the feeling of a last hurrah. De Bruyne, Lukaku, and the remnants of the side once hailed as a Golden Generation knew the clock was ticking on their time together at this level.

They had produced one last flurry in the United States, dismantling the co-hosts and igniting belief that there was still one more deep run left in them. They had staged one more great escape against Senegal.

This time there was no rescue act. Just a late blow from a Spanish substitute and the harsh reality of knockout football.

Spain move on to Dallas, to a semi-final against France that pits the tournament’s most controlled side against one of its most explosive. They go without the perfection of their clean-sheet record, but with something just as valuable at this stage: proof that when the game becomes chaotic and nervy, they can still find a way.

The European champions are not done yet. The question now is whether this efficiency, this cold edge in the biggest moments, will carry them all the way to the trophy.