{"id":53448,"date":"2026-07-10T21:52:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T21:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/53448\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T21:52:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T21:52:36","slug":"world-cup-2026-spain-defeats-belgium-will-face-france-in-semifinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/53448\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: Spain defeats Belgium, will face France in semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Belgium became the first team to beat Spanish goalie Unai Sim\u00f3n on Friday. But they couldn\u2019t beat his team, with second-half substitute Mikel Merino scoring in the 88th minute to lift Spain to a 2-1 victory<\/a> in a World Cup<\/a> quarterfinal before a sold-out crowd at SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n

The win, which extended Spain\u2019s unbeaten streak to 36 games, sends the team on to Tuesday\u2019s semifinal with France in Arlington, Texas. For Belgium, its first loss in 19 games ended its tournament.<\/p>\n

The turning point came not on the pitch but on the Belgium bench, where coach Luis de la Fuente sent backup goalkeeper Senne Lammens on for an injured Thibaut Courtois in the 71st minute.<\/p>\n

The dropoff in talent wasn\u2019t great \u2014 Lammens started 32 times for Manchester United this season \u2014 but the difference in experience was. Courtois was playing in his 21st World Cup game, second-most all time, and had been brilliant up to then against Spain, making four saves.<\/p>\n

But just before the second-half hydration break, he dropped to the turf with a thigh injury that required attention from trainers. He tried to continue, but moments later De la Fuente made the change, with Courtois walking to the bench in tears.<\/p>\n

Lammens stopped the first shot he faced, a low shot from close range by Pau Cubars\u00ed in the 88th minute, but he pushed the rebound right at Merino, who had come on less than two minutes earlier. His tap-in was his second winning goal in as many games for Spain.<\/p>\n

The goal overcame a score from Belgium\u2019s Charles De Keterlaere, who became the first player to score on Spain in this World Cup when he beat Sim\u00f3n with a spectacular goal late in the first half.<\/p>\n

\"Spain <\/p>\n

Spain midfielder Mikel Merino scores off a header in front of Belgium goalkeeper Senne Lammens during the second half of Spain\u2019s 2-1 quarterfinal win in the World Cup quarterfinals Friday at SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Not only has Spain given up the fewest goals in this tournament, it has given up the fewest shots as well. Before De Keterlaere, no one had come close to scoring against Sim\u00f3n since the final group-play game \u2014 of the last World Cup.<\/p>\n

But if La Roja, ranked third in the world by FIFA, had been an immovable object in this World Cup, Belgium had been an unstoppable force, scoring 12 times in its previous three games. Entering the quarterfinals, only France and Argentina had scored more often.<\/p>\n

And no team had taken more shots than Belgium\u2019s 107.<\/p>\n

Spain struck first Friday, with Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz giving Sim\u00f3n a 1-0 lead with his first goal of the tournament in the 30th minute. The sequence started with Pedro Porro sending a cross into the box for Dani Olmo, whose shot was parried away by Courtois. But Ruiz pounced on the rebound and deflected a shot past defender Timothy Castagne and into the back of the net.<\/p>\n

De Keterlaere matched that 11 minutes later, shielding Cubars\u00ed with his body and one-hopping a Castagne cross past a flat-footed Sim\u00f3n for his third goal in two games, one Courtois reacted to by charging out of the his penalty area toward the Belgian bench, waving his gloved fists in celebration.<\/p>\n

Spain, the reigning European champion, last advanced beyond the round of 16 at the World Cup in 2010, when it allowed just two goals en route to its only title. Belgium, ranked eighth in the world, was playing in the quarterfinals for the third time in four World Cups.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belgium became the first team to beat Spanish goalie Unai Sim\u00f3n on Friday. But they couldn\u2019t beat his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2881,22847,22845,14718,22846,556,11766,21754,22848,21755,12585,17,4585,3502,22844],"class_list":["post-53448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-belgium","tag-charles-de-keterlaere","tag-courtois","tag-fabian-ruiz","tag-first-team","tag-france","tag-game","tag-goal","tag-lammens","tag-minute","tag-simon","tag-spain","tag-time","tag-tournament","tag-world-cup-semifinal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}