Football
oi-Gaurav Sharma
Spain vs Belgium FIFA World Cup 2026 Highlights: With a convincing victory, Spain has booked a berth for FIFA World Cup semi finals as they defeated Belgium 2-1. Spain’s victory credit goes to Mikel Merino as he again delivered from the bench in a dramatic quarter-final finish.
The midfielder Merino scored a goal in 88th minute of the match after Senne Lammens spilled Pau Cubarsi’s long-range shot.
Spain advanced to the FIFA World Cup 2026 semi-finals with a dramatic 2-1 win against Belgium, decided by Mikel Merino’s 88th-minute goal after Belgian keeper Senne Lammens spilled Pau Cubarsi’s shot. Spain is set to face France in the next round.
Spain will now meet France in the last-4 stage.
Taking a look at Belgium’s performance, then Belgium pushed hard after falling behind late and came close to forcing extra time in stoppage time.
Charles De Ketelaere scored the lone goal for Belgium, however, he could only level the scores before half-time.
Belgium had absorbed pressure for much of the half, but their equaliser showed the danger they still carried in transition and wide areas.
De la Fuente’s bench helps Spain survive pressure
In the second half, De la Fuente introduced Ferran Torres and Pedri to add energy and control, while Nico Williams later replaced Mikel Oyarzabal as Spain searched for a winning goal.
Belgium responded with a more aggressive reshuffle, bringing on Romelu Lukaku, Axel Witsel and Joaquin Syes.
Those changes gave Belgium more presence, but Spain continued to create openings.
Yamal had an effort deflected narrowly wide, and earlier saw a one-on-one chance stopped by Courtois after the offside flag had gone up. Ferran and Yamal also combined neatly inside the box, only for Nathan Ngoy to make a vital interception.
Belgium’s captain Kevin De Bruyne had a difficult ending to his night.
He briefly caused concern after going down with cramp, then received a yellow card for pulling back Ferran Torres to halt a Spain break.
Rudi Garcia withdrew him soon after, sending on Saelemaekers for the final minutes as Belgium chased one last route back.
That chance arrived in stoppage time, but Belgium failed to make it count. Saelemaekers’ decision to pass rather than shoot allowed Laporte to recover and make one of the match’s defining defensive interventions.
For Spain, it was the kind of moment that separates a controlled win from a costly late collapse.
