A tale of three goalkeepers and two substitutes. Until this quarterfinal against Belgium, Spain’s Unai Simon had gone 650 World Cup minutes without conceding a goal, a record run dating all the way back to the group stages in Qatar.
At the other end, Thibaut Courtois’ World Cup was cut short when his body betrayed him. He left this game midway through the second half after clutching his thigh. Courtois appeared overcome with emotion. At 34, could this be the last we see of him on football’s biggest stage?
With this quarterfinal hanging in the balance, Courtois gave way for poor Senne Lammens, who lasted just 17 minutes before his net began to bulge. What a disaster this was for the Manchester United goalkeeper.
Extra time was haring into view when he spilled a shot from teenage centre back Pau Cubarsi.
Mikel Merino, who scored a stoppage-time winner as Spain edged out Portugal in the last round, was the hero once more. He had only been on a couple of minutes.
And so Spain will face France in a mouthwatering semifinal next week, while Belgium will head home with two goalkeepers nursing sore wounds.
Substitute Mikel Merino was Spain’s hero once more as they beat Belgium in dramatic fashion
The midfielder scored with two minutes left after a dreadful error by Senne Lammens
Never before had a country reached the sixth game of a men’s World Cup without being breached. But from back to front, with and without the ball, this Spain team suffocates opponents.
You can’t concede if you don’t give up chances and, quite incredibly, en route to this quarter final, Spain had allowed just five shots on target. It took Belgium 41 minutes to add to that number. But they made it count.
Charles De Ketelaere was pivotal as Rudi Garcia’s side broke American hearts in the last 16 and here he hurt Spain too, heading home shortly before halftime to bring Belgium level.
Fabian Ruiz had been preferred in midfield to Pedri as Luis de la Fuente shuffled his pack and that tweak looked to have paid off when Ruiz put Spain in front. But in the end, they needed a helping hand to reach a first semifinal since 2010. No one needs reminding what Spain did that summer.
It was still morning in Los Angeles when the wrinkling face of Michael Buffer appeared on the 360-degree screen of SoFi Stadium. The 81-year-old voice of boxing was beamed in to introduce the two teams and light the fuse ahead of this heavyweight rumble.
By then, though, we were already a man down: Belgium captain Youri Tielemans had hurt himself in the warm-up. That meant Kevin De Bruyne took the armband and Garcia was shorn of two key midfielders after Amadou Onana damaged his ACL against the US. As if Belgium’s task wasn’t tough enough already.
Neither De Bruyne nor Jeremy Doku started against America and their return spoke surely to an acceptance that Belgium would see little of the ball. So whenever Spain did cough it up, Garcia needed as much individual brilliance on the pitch as possible.
Fabian Ruiz had given Spain a first-half lead before they conceded a first goal of the World Cup
Charles De Ketelaere levelled the game for Belgium, beating Unai Simon with a header
It took all of a few minutes for the die to be cast: Spain set up camp inside the Belgium half, while their opponents searched for a way to stem the tide. Early on, Doku’s quivering feet appeared to be about Belgium’s only avenue out.
In fairness, they did stifle Spain for much of the first half. Lamine Yamal curled a shot wide from outside the box but, beyond that?
For all their possession and control, De la Fuente’s side created very little. A Mexican Wave went round SoFi Stadium before we had reached the first hydration break.
Unfortunately for Belgium, the dam burst shortly after they took on water. Ruiz made no mistake after Dani Olmo’s shot was palmed into his path by Courtois.
Belgium had been carved open by a lovely one-two between Yamal and Pedro Porro and, in the minutes after taking the lead, Spain threatened to move through the gears. Yamal was coming to the boil and Belgium were hanging on.
Then, out of nowhere, De Ketelaere equalised.
It was Belgium’s first effort on target from virtually their first sustained spell near the Spain box. De Bruyne fed Timothy Castagne with a neat, first-time ball and then, from Castagne’s cross, De Ketelaere did brilliantly to beat teenager Cubarsi and header home.
Merino, who also scored a late winner against Portugal, celebrates his goal in Los Angeles
That put Spain in uncharted waters at this tournament: how would De La Fuente’s side react to conceding a goal? Well, they simply picked up where they left off – poking and probing around the Belgium area.
But as time ticked by, as both coaches turned to their bench, this game began to open up and Belgium had chances too.
Maxim De Cuyper fired into the side netting and, a few minutes later, the ball struck Rodri’s arm inside the penalty area. Belgium cried penalty, Michael Oliver said no and VAR agreed with the referee.
Then, with no warning, Courtois went down. He played on for a few minutes before Belgium sent on Lammens and disaster struck.
