Spain's defense had not allowed a goal all summer, and for 85 minutes on Friday it looked like Belgium's patched-together lineup might make that hold up. It didn't. Substitute Mikel Merino read a rebound better than anyone else in the box, turned it in, and gave Spain a 2-1 win at Los Angeles Stadium — the World Cup's temporary name for SoFi Stadium. The result books Luis de la Fuente's team a semifinal against France on Tuesday. Spain hasn't reached this stage of the tournament since its title-winning run in 2010.
Ruiz surprises, then Belgium hits back
De la Fuente made one change nobody saw coming, handing a start to Fabián Ruiz over the usual presence of Pedri in central midfield. It worked out inside half an hour: Pedro Porro and Lamine Yamal combined on the right, Dani Olmo drove a shot that Thibaut Courtois beat away, and Ruiz was quickest to the loose ball, poking it in for his opening tournament strike in the 30th minute.
Belgium answered before the break. Timothy Castagne swung in a cross from the right, and Charles De Ketelaere got across his marker to head it past Unai Simón in the 41st minute — the first goal Spain had conceded anywhere in the tournament.
A record run, corrected
That header did more than level the score. It closed out a scoreless run for Simón that Opta's live tracker had at 649 minutes dating back to the 2022 tournament in Qatar, a figure the Associated Press rounded to 650 — comfortably the longest goalkeeping streak in World Cup history, well clear of the 517 minutes Italy's Walter Zenga went without conceding at Italia '90. It also ended a run of six straight World Cup clean sheets for Spain, the best such stretch by any team since the tournament began keeping records.
Belgium's night unravels
Belgium had already absorbed one blow before kickoff. Captain Youri Tielemans strained something in the warmup and never took the field, with Kevin De Bruyne taking over the armband in his place. Then, early in the second half, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois — who'd just denied a close-range effort from Mikel Oyarzabal — went down clutching his leg and had to be helped off in tears around the 71st minute with what his camp described as a thigh injury. Manchester United's Senne Lammens came on in his place, becoming just the second goalkeeper other than Courtois to play a World Cup match for Belgium since 2002.
The touch that decided it
Spain pressed for the rest of regulation without finding a way past Lammens — Yamal alone tested both Belgian goalkeepers twice more — until de la Fuente turned to Merino in the 86th minute. Two touches later, it was over: Pau Cubarsí drove a shot from distance, Lammens got a hand to it but couldn't hold on, and Merino arrived first to knock it in for the winner in the 88th minute.
It's becoming a habit. Merino won a previous knockout match from the bench with a stoppage-time goal against Portugal, and going back to a 119th-minute winner against Germany at Euro 2024, this was his third match-deciding goal in his last two major tournaments. Speaking through an interpreter afterward, he credited preparation as much as luck: "I trust myself and I know what to do whenever I have the chance," he said, via TSN.
Belgium almost snatched a way back regardless. Aymeric Laporte hacked one effort clear as the 90th minute approached, and five minutes into stoppage time, Simón and Belgium's Romelu Lukaku collided going up for the same ball, knocking it toward an open net before Cubarsí sprinted back to clear the danger.
Belgium coach Rudi Garcia didn't dress it up afterward. "Unfortunately, the stars weren't aligned. We lost our keeper, our captain," he said, according to The Athletic. Asked about France, de la Fuente kept it simple: "It will be a clash of giants," he said, per AP.
Just how unbeaten is Spain, exactly?
Spain's win also stretched its run without a loss to 36 games across every competition, a stretch that traces back to a March 2024 friendly defeat to Colombia — matching the mark Lionel Scaloni's Argentina put together between 2019 and 2022. But there's a second, equally legitimate way to count it: strip out that Colombia friendly and a penalty-shootout final loss to Portugal in 2025, count only competitive fixtures, and Spain's run stretches back to a 2-0 defeat to Scotland in March 2023 — putting the streak at 37 games, level with the number most commonly cited as the outright world record, set by Roberto Mancini's Italy from 2018 to 2021. Both figures are being reported accurately; they simply answer slightly different questions about what counts as a "loss."
The numbers behind the control
Spain held 68 percent of possession on the night — in line with its tournament-wide average near two-thirds — and out-shot Belgium 17 to 5, with an expected-goals tally of roughly 2.08 against Belgium's 0.37, according to Opta. Yet both of Spain's goals arrived off rebounds from saves rather than clean finishes, a reminder that even this defense-first version of La Roja still needs a break to turn its dominance into goals.
Individually, midfielder Rodri tied a decade-old benchmark, completing 62 passes into the final third that broke an opposing line — matching, not surpassing, the mark Germany's Toni Kroos set in 2014, and still the most anyone has managed in a single tournament since. De la Fuente, for his part, has now gone 13 major-tournament matches unbeaten as Spain's manager across the World Cup and European Championship combined — more than any manager in the history of either event.
What Belgium leaves behind
Belgium didn't arrive as a soft touch. The Red Devils needed extra time to erase a two-goal deficit against Senegal in the round of 32, with a disputed spot kick that Tielemans buried at the 125-minute mark, then dispatched co-host United States 4-1 in the last 16. Add Friday's consolation goal and Belgium finishes with 14 goals in six matches — second only to France's tally in the field — while its own 18-match unbeaten run came to an end as well.
Next up: France
Spain now has four days to prepare for a France side many rate as the tournament favorite, in a semifinal Tuesday at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas. De la Fuente's group has now weathered a surprise lineup call, a first goal conceded all summer, and a goalkeeping swing that broke the wrong way for the other team, and found an answer every time. Whether that holds up against Les Bleus gets decided Tuesday.
