Spain beat Belgium 2-1 to book World Cup semifinal with France

By Hoang Nguyen JUL. 11, 2026

Spain booked their place in the 2026 World Cup semifinals after substitute Mikel Merino scored a late winner in a 2-1 victory over Belgium in Los Angeles on Friday.

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Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta (GMT+7)

July 11
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Full time: Spain 2-1 Belgium
Spain are through to the semis for the first time since the 2010 World Cup and they will face France in the most anticipated match in the next round. But we have to give compliments to Belgium, when they missed two key midfielders before the game and the main keeper in the second half, and still managed to hold off Spain until the 88th minute.

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Laporte was booked after a challenge, then Witsel also got a yellow after taking on Rodri.

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Saelemaekers dribbled past Simon and made a cross into the box. Cubarsi cleared it into Simon's hands. It was an actual scare for Spain.

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Belgium will have an extra seven minutes to find the equalizer.

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Merino is the super-sub for Spain, as he also scored the late winning goal against Portugal in the Round of 16.

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88'

2-1 for Spain!
Cubarsi had space for a long-range shot and decided to test Lammens. The Belgium keeper couldn't catch it cleanly and the ball spun to Merino, who scored with a tap-in. Another late goal for Spain!

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86'

De Bruyne came off for Alexis Saelemaekers, but before he left, he was booked after wrestling with Torres. Mikel Merino also came on for Olmo.

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83'

Pedri and Williams were combining down the left regularly, but no results so far.

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78'

Spain need more pace and power on the left flank, so they put Oyarzabal out for Nico Williams.

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If there's one thing positive about the Courtois situation, it's that Belgium's defense got much better as they blocked almost all shots and passes into the box.

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Belgium have not beaten Spain in their last 11 encounters, and have lost their last five matches. This is the third time the two teams have met at the World Cup. Previously, Belgium drew 1-1 and won on penalties in the 1986 quarterfinals. Four years later, Spain won 2-1 in the group stage.

The winner of this match will face France in the semifinals.