Merino puts Spain in World Cup semi-finals as Belgium suffer costly Courtois injury | 2026 World Cup

Mikel Merino’s amazing moment came again, the country rounding the flag in the corner with him. The late scorer, who put Spain in the semi-finals of the European Championship two years ago and the quarter-finals of the World Cup four days ago, has done it again. This is another hat-trick, history made here. Introduced as a sub at 85.32 as Spain struggle to find a way through against Belgium, Merino was the man to watch across Los Angeles, hitting the loose ball at 87.28 to send Spain through to next week’s semi-final against France.

As he walks through that now familiar ceremony in honor of his father, poor Thibaut Courtois the person who could have prevented this can only watch from the bench. Senne Lammers, who dropped Pau Cubarsi’s shot at his feet, could do the same. Spain went crazy. They had done it. It had started with one big confirmed decision and ended with another one; it was over with them heading to Dallas again.

Luis de la Fuente had decided to replace Pedri with Fabian Ruiz and it was another confirmed decision. The PSG midfielder created the first real chance, pulling back from Rodri on ten minutes, and scored the opener on the half hour again. It was already deep, Pedro Porro and Lamine Yamal came together to open Belgium. A neat ball from Lamine Yamal, all smooth timing and just the right amount of weight, set up Porro’s run into the area where he slotted past Dani Olmo. Olmo’s shot, which was first time cleared, was pushed away by Thibaut Courtois but Ruiz was there to score on the rebound.

Leaving the ball in the net, Ruiz called one from the ballboy to the right of the goal, stuck his shirt up and shouted in joy. Spain had dominated for a while, right from the commercial break, and now they had a lead that was hard to imagine relinquishing. Spain had taken over completely. After a false start, Lamine Yamal was growing into the game and now running for Belgium, he quickly piled up on the edge of the area after some fine footwork. On the free kick, Courtois saved.

The referee, Michael Oliver, hit Olmo, raising his hands in apology, but Spain was not easy to stop. Quick now, the one-touch move breaks just short of the edge of the area as Mikel Oyarzabal tries to pull it back from Olmo’s run. Then a superb little touch from Lamine Yamal saw him slip past Jérémy Doku into the side netting. This, in fact, seemed easy now.

And then, suddenly, it wasn’t. Then 40 minutes and 12 seconds into the sixth game, at 12.40 Pacific Time, Spain scored its first goal in this World Cup when Charles De Ketelaere scored a goal against Belgium. It had started, as almost everything Belgium did, with Doku running forward down the left but the move continued across the area and was revived and finished on the other wing with a momentary clearance from Kevin De Bruyne. With Spain close to the ball, his quick, short, low pass allowed Timothy Castagne to hit the perfect ball and De Ketelaere went past Pau Cubarsi to score.

The second half started with another excellent pass from Cubarsi, who had already cut through the Belgian defense to find Álex Baena in the first half. This time, he released Lamine Yamal from the spot and although Courtois made the save and the flag was up, there was encouragement there. There was a space behind those white shirts. The next opportunity though came in front of them, Lamine Yamal’s low shot went off the edge of the Belgian area, where most of the game was played.

More clarity, more cutting was needed, so Pedri and Ferran Torres were introduced early. But not before a serious warning at the other end, when Doku and De Bruyne came together and Maxim De Cruyper, given a clear view of the goal, fired his shot into the side of the net. Rudi Garcia then made three changes of his own, with Axel Witsel, Joaquin Seys and Romelu Lukaku all introduced. A curler from Lamine Yamal was pushed wide by Courtois and the keeper denied Oyarzabal at close range after Lamine Yamal had teed him up.

And with him … if, alas, not for a long time. When another commercial break was called, it came with more bad news in Belgium: Courtois was on the ground, clutching his thigh. The goalkeeper tried to continue but was forced to leave crying. Youri Tielemans had to leave a few minutes before it started, now this. De Bruyne will eventually have to go. All the while, the pattern continued, but a major obstacle had been removed from Spain’s path. As the game passed through the wing of Lamine, however, it was not easy to find a way, many exchanges ended at the end, often deep inside the area.

Deep down, Belgium was resisting. The question was how long would they last? The answer, when Mikel Merino arrived, was not long: one minute and fifty-six seconds and one touch later, Spain was in the semi-final.