Mikel Merino, for the second game in a row, scores the winning goal for Spain, and sends them for the semifinals of the World Cup.
Spain 2—1 Belgium
Spain started the game in control and created more chances, but Thibaut Courtois was in excellent form and made every chance look harmless. It took 30 minutes for Spain to break through. Fabián Ruiz scored a tap-in after an incoming shot was parried by Courtois back into the penalty area. The defense was caught watching and Ruiz, who was unmarked, was first to the ball and put it in.
After the first goal, Belgium started to find their way on offense and tied the game just before halftime, starting with a brilliant against-the-grain pass from Kevin De Bruyne. Timothy Castagne received it and played a perfect cross to Charles De Ketelaere who headed it back across goal into the left side.
In the second half, Belgium started to control the game and was producing the more threatening chances. Unfortunately for them, the turning point was the 71st minute when Courtois appeared to suffer a muscle injury. After the hydration break, Courtois could not continue and was replaced by backup Senne Lammens.
After this substitution, the game switched back to Spanish control and eventually they were able to score again. In the 88th minute, a long shot dropped right in front of Lammens. He mishandled the ball, and it fell to the incoming Merino who, for the second game in a row, put it in and gave Spain the winning goal.
In this game, I think Belgium made two crucial mistakes that cost them the game. The first was that none of the defenders tracked their man. They were so focused on the shooter that both goals came from tap-ins where the Spaniard was the closest one to the rebound or was completely unmarked.
Second was not using Romelu Lukaku. He came on in the 60th minute and Belgium never made it a priority to start feeding him the ball or making crosses for him. There were a couple of free kicks where, instead of waiting for people to line up for a cross, they decided to play it quickly, resulting in having to play back to the keeper as they could not figure out how to keep the ball in the attacking half.
Spain advances to the semifinals where they will play France on July 14 at 3 p.m. ET.
As always, stay tuned to Futbolhijo.com for in-depth coverage of the biggest World Cup yet. Check back for my next article, where I will be covering matches and news that occur throughout the tournament. You can also read my previous article where I broke down France’s advancement to the semifinals.
Cover Photo: Norway and England Advance. NOTE: Image generated using the prompt “generate me an image that matches the following 2026 world cup article title: Spain advances to the semifinals,” by OpenAI, ChatGPT, 2026 (https://chatgpt.com/).
