Day 30: Super-Sub Merino Sinks Belgium, Spain Book a France Semi-Final

Day 30 gave us a single fixture, and it still found a way to leave a grown man in tears and a nation two wins from glory. This was the day the semi-final picture snapped into focus: France had booked their place the night before, and now Spain needed 90 minutes in Los Angeles to join them. They got there — but only just, and only after the cruellest of late twists. The short version? Mikel Merino did it again.

Everything as it happened is on the live scores page, and the full bracket sits on the schedule.

Spain 2-1 Belgium: Merino strikes late, again

On paper this was the reigning European champions against a Belgium side widely filed under “fading Golden Generation.” On the grass at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood — watched, per Fox Sports, by a red-carpet crowd that reportedly included Brad Pitt, Penélope Cruz and Noel Gallagher — it was a good deal tighter than the seedings promised.

Belgium’s afternoon was compromised before kick-off. Rudi Garcia had welcomed Kevin De Bruyne and Jérémy Doku back into his XI, but Fox Sports reported that captain Youri Tielemans pulled up with a hamstring problem in the warm-up. With Amadou Onana already lost to a ruptured ACL, the Red Devils faced Spain’s midfield metronomes with a patched-together engine room.

Two rebounds, and a record falls

Luis de la Fuente sprang a small surprise of his own, handing Fabián Ruiz a start in place of Pedri. It paid off inside half an hour. Pedro Porro and Lamine Yamal traded a quick one-two down the right, Porro cut it back for Dani Olmo, and when Thibaut Courtois could only parry Olmo’s shot, Ruiz arrived to bundle in the rebound (30’). One-nil — and the pattern of the day, Spanish shot then spilled save then Spanish goal, was already set.

Belgium’s reply was pure craft. De Bruyne slid a pass out to Timothy Castagne, whose cross was met by Charles De Ketelaere, who timed his run to slip in behind Pau Cubarsí and head home (41’). Remarkably, it was the first goal Spain had conceded all tournament. Unai Simón’s shutout had stretched to 560 minutes — a new World Cup record past Walter Zenga’s 517 from Italia ‘90, according to FIFA, and what Fox Sports called the longest such run in the competition’s history. De Ketelaere, fresh from a brace against the United States in the last 16, ended it against the run of play.

Courtois in tears, and a debut to forget

Spain pressed after the break — Yamal, later named FIFA’s Player of the Match, curled one wide and saw a cross blocked by a charging Courtois — but the game’s hinge was an injury, not a chance. On 71 minutes Courtois pulled up and, visibly distraught, had to come off; Garcia confirmed afterwards, via NBC News, that his goalkeeper had suffered a muscular injury. On came Senne Lammens, the 24-year-old Manchester United keeper, for a World Cup debut in the most daunting circumstances imaginable.

It unravelled on 88 minutes. Cubarsí — beaten in the air for Belgium’s goal — drove a low shot from distance, the kind a keeper of Courtois’s standing pouches in his sleep. Lammens spilled it.

The man for the 88th minute

Standing exactly where a striker’s instinct told him to be was Mikel Merino, on the pitch for barely two minutes after replacing Olmo. He lashed the loose ball home, and Spain had their 2-1 win. Cruelly for Belgium, De Bruyne — booked on 85 minutes and hauled off a minute later — watched the decisive blow from the bench.

If it felt familiar, that’s because it was. Four days earlier Merino had come off the bench to sink Portugal with a stoppage-time winner in the round of 16 — his second decisive substitute’s goal of these knockouts and, as ESPN noted, the third match-winning goal he has scored at a major tournament for Spain, after his 119th-minute strike against Germany at Euro 2024.

“I don’t even know what to say, I can’t believe it myself,” Merino told reporters, per ESPN. “I believe in luck, but I don’t think this is luck. It’s about being prepared when you get on… when I get on the pitch I am ready.” De la Fuente was purring: “Mikel is incredible. He has so many qualities. He could play in any position. We’re lucky to have him.”

Belgium had a moment to force extra time — Alexis Saelemaekers rounded Simón late but couldn’t square for Romelu Lukaku, per Fox Sports — yet the abiding image was Courtois emerging at full time to console a shattered Lammens while Belgium’s veterans stood frozen. By NBC News’ count Spain had piled up 16 attempts to Belgium’s five; the scoreline flattered the Red Devils.

The last four takes shape: Spain–France on Bastille Day

Spain march on, extending an unbeaten run FIFA pegs at 36 matches — level with the Argentina side Lionel Messi carried from 2019 to 2022, and one shy of Italy’s record 37. They are two wins from a second world title, 16 years after their first.

The reward is enormous: France, in Dallas, on 14 July — Bastille Day, as the Rio Times couldn’t resist noting. Les Bleus eased past Morocco 2-0 the night before, and the tie is a straight rerun of the Euro 2024 semi-final that Spain won 2-1, thanks to a stunning Yamal goal and a Dani Olmo winner. Cue the sub-plot: Kylian Mbappé against Lamine Yamal, club rivals turned international foils. One quirk to watch — Fox Sports notes Yamal hasn’t managed a goal or an assist since Spain’s group-stage win over Saudi Arabia. De la Fuente, unbeaten in all six of his major-tournament knockout ties as Spain boss (per the BBC), was in no mood to stop, telling NBC: “Let me be clear, we are not finished. We are here for more.”

The rest of the bracket fills in this weekend. Norway meet England on Saturday, and Argentina face Switzerland in the small hours of Sunday (UTC), the winners forming the other semi-final. If the knockout maths has you turned around, our knockout-stage explainer lays it out; the now-frozen group tables and every remaining fixture live on the schedule, with live scores here.

For Belgium, it is the end — and, most likely, the end of an era. A Golden Generation that promised so much bows out on the wrong end of a goalkeeping calamity, which feels grimly apt for a group forever undone by the finest of margins.

Spain 2-1 Belgium: Merino strikes late, again

Two rebounds, and a record falls

Courtois in tears, and a debut to forget

The man for the 88th minute

The last four takes shape: Spain–France on Bastille Day

Sources