Merino puts Spain into World Cup semi-finals as Belgium rue costly Courtois injury | World Cup 2026

Mikel Merino’s amazing moment arrived once more, a country circling the corner flag with him. The man who came on to scored the late, late goals that took Spain into a European championship semi final two years ago and a World Cup quarter final four days ago, only went and did it again. This is some hat-trick, history made here. Introduced as sub on 85.32 with Spain struggling to find a way through against Belgium, Merino was the man most alert in the whole of Los Angeles, pouncing on a loose ball on 87.28 to send Spain to the semi-final against France next week.

As he set off on that now familiar celebration in honour of his father, poor Thibaut Courtois the man who might have prevented this could only watch from the bench. Senne Lammers, who had dropped Pau Cubarsi’s shot at his feet could only do the same. Spain, meanwhile, went mad. They had done it. It had started with a big decision vindicated and it had ended with one too; it had ended with them heading to Dallas once more.

Luis de la Fuente had taken the decision to replace Pedri with Fabian Ruiz and it turned out to be another decision vindicated. The PSG midfielder set up the first real opportunity, pulling back for Rodri on ten minutes, and he scored the opening goal on half an hour too. It had started deep, Pedro Porro and Lamine Yamal combining to open up Belgium. A neat ball from Lamine Yamal, all smooth timing and perfect weighting, set Porro dashing into the area where he pull back for Dani Olmo. Olmo’s shot, swept first time, was pushed away by Thibaut Courtois but Ruiz was there to score from the rebound.

Leaving the ball in the net, Ruiz called for another from the ballboy to the right of the goal, stuck it up his shirt and screamed in celebration. Spain had dominated for a while, certainly since the commercial break, and now they had a lead that it was hard to imagine them letting go of. Spain had taken complete control. After a slightly erratic start, Lamine Yamal was growing into this game and running at Belgium now, soon bundled over on the edge of the area after some more neat footwork. From the free kick, Courtois saved.

The referee, Michael Oliver, crashed into Olmo, holding his hands up in apology, but Spain were not easy to stop. Accelerating now, a glorious one-touch move broke down just on the edge of the area as Mikel Oyarzabal tried to back-heel it into the run of Olmo. Then a superb little touch from Lamine Yamal saw him escape Jérémy Doku and hit the side-netting. This, in truth, seemed easy now.

And then, suddenly, it wasn’t. And then 40 minutes and 12 seconds into the sixth game, at 12.40 Pacific Time, Spain conceded their first goal of this World Cup when Charles De Ketelaere headed Belgium level. It had started, as almost everything Belgium did, with Doku dashing forward on the left but the move had continued across the front of the area and then been revived and concluded on the other wing with a moment’s clarity from Kevin De Bruyne. With Spain drawn out towards the ball, his swift, short, unfussy pass allowed Timothy Castagne to deliver a perfect cross and De Ketelaere got ahead of Pau Cubarsi to score.

The second half began with another superb pass from Cubarsi, who had already cut through the Belgian defence to find Álex Baena the first half. This time, he released Lamine Yamal into the area and although Courtois made the save and the flag was up, there was encouragement there. There was space behind those white shirts. The next opportunity though came in front of them, Lamine Yamal’s low shot squirming wide from the edge of the Belgian area, where much of the game was being played.

A little more clarity was called for, a little more incision, so Pedri and Ferran Torres were introduced early. But not before a serious warning at the other end, when Doku and De Bruyne combined and Maxim De Cruyper, given a clear sight of goal, rifled his shot into the side of the net. Rudi Garcia then made three changes of his own, Axel Witsel, Joaquin Seys and Romelu Lukaku all introduced. A curler from Lamine Yamal was pushed away by Courtois and then the keeper denied Oyarzabal at the near post after Lamine Yamal had slipped him in.

Him again … if, alas, not for long. When another commercial break was called, it coincided with the worst possible news for Belgium: Courtois was down, holding his thigh. The goalkeeper tried to continue but was forced off in tears. Youri Tielemans had already had to go just minutes before kick off, now this. De Bruyne would eventually have to go too. All the while, the pattern continued, but with a giant obstacle removed from Spain’s path. With the play going through Lamine’s wing, still it wasn’t easy finding a way through, countless exchanges cut out at the last, often deep inside the area.

Ever deeper, Belgium were resisting. The question was how long could they last? The answer, once Mikel Merino came on, was not long: one minute and fifty-six seconds and one touch later, Spain were in the semi-final.