{"id":33737,"date":"2026-07-11T04:18:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/spain-vs-belgium-fifa-world-cup-qf-match-result-merino-magic-strikes-again-as-spain-edge-past-belgium-to-enter-wc-semis-football-news\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T04:18:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:48:36","slug":"spain-vs-belgium-fifa-world-cup-qf-match-result-merino-magic-strikes-again-as-spain-edge-past-belgium-to-enter-wc-semis-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/spain-vs-belgium-fifa-world-cup-qf-match-result-merino-magic-strikes-again-as-spain-edge-past-belgium-to-enter-wc-semis-football-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain vs Belgium FIFA World Cup QF match result: Merino magic strikes again as Spain edge past Belgium to enter WC Semis | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-132320751,imgsize-87046,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/132320751.jpg\" alt=\"Spain vs Belgium FIFA World Cup QF match result: Merino magic strikes again as Spain edge past Belgium to enter WC Semis\" title=\"Spain's Mikel Merino (6) celebrates after their win in the World Cup quarterfinal match between Spain and Belgium in Inglewood. (AP Photo)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Spain's Mikel Merino (6) celebrates after their win in the World Cup quarterfinal match between Spain and Belgium in Inglewood. (AP Photo)\">Spain&#8217;s Mikel Merino (6) celebrates after their win in the World Cup quarterfinal match between Spain and Belgium in Inglewood. (AP Photo)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Super-sub Mikel Merino turned hero once again, scoring a dramatic 88th-minute winner to guide Spain into the World Cup semi-finals with a thrilling 2-1 victory over Belgium on Friday.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"2\"\/>Spain will now face tournament favourites France in a blockbuster semi-final clash in Dallas on Tuesday. &#8220;It will be a clash of giants,&#8221; Spanish coach Luis De La Fuente said after the match.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"6\"\/>The decisive moment came just two minutes after Merino entered the pitch. In the 88th minute, Pau Cubars\u00ed unleashed a powerful long-range strike. Belgium\u2019s substitute goalkeeper Senne Lammens spilled the rebound, allowing the Arsenal forward to charge in and tuck the ball home with only his second touch of the match. <!-- -->Merino had previously scored a 91st-minute winner against Portugal in the Round of 16.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"11\"\/>It was a heartbreaking end for Belgium, who lost star goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to a thigh injury in the 71st minute. Courtois left the field in tears and was replaced by Lammens.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"13\"\/>Earlier, Spain broke the deadlock in the 30th minute. Lamine Yamal and Pedro Porro combined brilliantly down the right flank to set up Dani Olmo. While Courtois blocked Olmo&#8217;s initial shot, Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz was perfectly positioned to hammer home the rebound. Ruiz was a surprise inclusion in the starting XI, replacing Pedri.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"17\"\/>Spain\u2019s defensive resilience was on full display, having kept five consecutive clean sheets prior to this match. Goalkeeper Unai Sim\u00f3n had gone a World Cup-record 650 minutes without conceding. However, that historic streak ended in the 41st minute when Belgium\u2019s Charles De Ketelaere muscled past Cubars\u00ed to head home a precise cross from Timothy Castagne.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"21\"\/>Belgium suffered pre-match blows with Amadou Onana injured and skipper Youri Tielemans pulling out during warm-ups, though Kevin De Bruyne returned to the lineup. Despite a desperate late surge led by Romelu Lukaku, Aymeric Laporte made a crucial acrobatic clearance in stoppage time to seal Spain&#8217;s victory.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"23\"\/>With this win, Spain extended their incredible unbeaten run to 37 matches, while Belgium\u2019s 18-game undefeated streak came to an end.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/football\/fifa-world-cup\/spain-vs-belgium-fifa-world-cup-qf-match-result-merino-magic-strikes-again-as-spain-edge-past-belgium-to-enter-wc-semis\/articleshow\/132320751.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spain&#8217;s Mikel Merino (6) celebrates after their win in the World Cup quarterfinal match between Spain and Belgium in Inglewood. (AP Photo) Super-sub Mikel Merino turned hero once again, scoring a dramatic 88th-minute winner to guide Spain into the World Cup semi-finals with a thrilling 2-1 victory over Belgium on Friday.Spain will now face tournament [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}