No wonder Spain boss Luis de la Fuente can’t resist keeping Mikel Marino on the bench.
Now two World Cup knockout games are deadlocked, with two World Cup knockout games won by the Arsenal midfielder’s left boot. On Monday, it was against Portugal in Dallas; here in the California sun, he was the quickest to anticipate a mistake by the Belgian goalkeeper. Firing the ball into the roof of the net two minutes from time, he sent his country into a thrilling semi-final clash with European heavyweights France on Tuesday.
But it was not meant to be for this brave Belgian team. A cruel turn of the tide came 20 minutes from the end when Thibaut Courtois, one of the world’s finest goalkeepers, was ruled out after sustaining a thigh injury. A very capable No. 2 in Man Utd’s Senne Lammens replaced him but it was his fault, his failure to keep up with Pau Cubarsi’s long-range efforts and his inexplicable spilling of the football into Merino’s path, that would be the lasting image of their World Cup campaign.
And so the European champions, Spain, move on. It was far from convincing and Belgium will rue a few half-decent openings in the second half. But almost 16 years after the 2010 generation dominated the world stage in South Africa, this 2026 squad took another step closer to their country’s second victory. Now it will be Kylian Mbappe and the unbeaten French attack over four days at the air-conditioned Dallas Stadium. Some match, that.
Spain’s incredible run now extends to 36 consecutive matches unbeaten in competitive matches. Although he broke his clean sheet record by conceding for the first time in 650 World Cup minutes, the main goal of the summer remains unchanged. The 70,000-strong crowd in Los Angeles, dominated by Spain supporters, applauded the team, and they would be satisfied with their progress, even if their position here were precarious for a period.
The two had not played for a decade, while Spain went 11 games unbeaten against their European rivals, dating back to a World Cup quarter-final shootout defeat in the Mexican city of Puebla 40 years ago. With the match starting at noon, under similar conditions in Inglewood, could the underdog story repeat itself here?
The weight of history perhaps explains why Belgium boss Rudy Garcia drafted back his big guns, Jeremy Duko and Kevin De Bruyne, after they were surprisingly forgotten from the starting line-up that torpedoed the USA in the final round. However, just 12 minutes before kick-off, captain Yuri Thiel suffered a hamstring injury in the men’s warm-up, dealing them a hammer blow.
In a baking-hot first quarter, Belgium more than held its own, reflecting the way sports are integrated at this World Cup. Doku, whose headlines so far at the tournament have been for his farcical story about going home to birth his baby, looked a constant threat on the break, aided by a couple of defenders at a time, while Lamin Yamal, the first of several visitors, flew over comfortably, cutting in on his left foot at 20 minutes. But losing focus against this Spain team is a mistake you will regret. Half an hour later, the Red Devils fell behind – and they remained behind.
Pedro Porro exchanged a quickfire one-two with Yamel before finding Dani Olmo in the box. His shot was saved by Courtois, but the Belgian No. 1 could only pass it to Fabian Ruiz, who was deputising for Padre in midfield, before Ruiz tapped it home. The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder had not lost any of the 48 games he had played in Spain. It seemed that La Roja were well on their way.
Yamal dazzled for the next 10, got away from Belgium left-back Maxime de Kuper, and went close with a free-kick, which Courtois again palmed away. But then, four minutes before the break, Spain did something they had never done before: they conceded a goal.
The goalscorer was Charles de Catellier; the crosser was Timothée Castagne, but the chief architect, inevitably, was De Bruyne. The stand-in captain first slotted the neatest pass up the pitch to Belgian right-back Castagan. His near-post cross found Belgian marksman De Catellier, who got across the Cubbers and, like all-time top scorer Romelu Lukaku, slotted beautifully past Antoine Simeone.
For the Spain keeper, it was his first goal in 650 minutes of the World Cup. The impeachable rearguard is no more.
After the break, it was nip and tuck. De Kuper should have done better in the box after a powerful shot into the side netting, while Yamal, who was generally wasteful, fired a shot just wide of the post. Spain certainly didn’t have it all their own way and, on 55 minutes, coach Luis de la Fuente had seen enough, bringing on Ferran Torres and Pedri in a bold double substitution. As the second period wore on and Lukaku came on, Belgium looked a real threat on the counter-attack, with a cross deflected off Rodri’s hands. No penalty was given.
Then, turn. Courtois went down clutching his left thigh and cried when he realised his race was on, as Lemmons stepped into the spotlight. A cramping De Bruyne then opened with Simeone 40 yards out, but Rodri – as he often does for club and country – parried the goal-bound strike.
But the Belgians were falling deeper and deeper as extra time beckoned. So much so that Cubarsi went unchallenged when he shot at goal and Lemmens inexplicably let the ball slip from his grasp. And it was Merino, the man again after a stoppage-time winner against Portugal, who roared home to send Spain into Tuesday’s date with Texas alongside their French neighbours.
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