Mikel Merino's Late Strike Sends Spain to World Cup Semi-Finals

Mikel Merino stepped out of the shadows and into Spain’s World Cup story with a ruthless late strike, breaking Belgian hearts and dragging the European champions into a semi-final showdown with France.

The substitute needed barely two minutes to change everything in Los Angeles. Introduced on 86 minutes, with extra-time looming and tension thick in the air, Merino reacted quickest when Pau Cubarsi’s low drive slipped from the grasp of replacement goalkeeper Senne Lammens. One touch, one finish, and Spain were through with a 2-1 win.

It was a brutal twist for Belgium and for a generation running out of tomorrows.

Spain’s control, Belgium’s punch

For long spells, this felt like Spain’s kind of game. Calm on the ball, assured in possession, Luis de la Fuente’s side moved Belgium around and waited for the opening. It arrived on the half-hour.

Dani Olmo burst into space and unleashed a shot that looked destined for the net until Thibaut Courtois flung himself across goal, clawing it away with a brilliant save. The danger should have been over. It wasn’t. Fabian Ruiz followed in, collected the rebound and buried it, punishing the slightest lapse in Belgian concentration.

Spain, who had marched into this quarter-final on the back of six straight World Cup clean sheets, suddenly looked on course for another controlled, clinical night. They rarely dazzle, but they strangle games. They suffocate hope.

Belgium refused to accept that script.

Nine minutes before the break, they found a way back. Timothy Castagne surged down the flank and delivered the kind of cross defenders hate – early, whipped, teasing. Charles De Ketelaere attacked it with conviction, rising to guide his header past Unai Simon and into the corner.

One chance. One goal. The Golden Generation, or what remains of it, still had a pulse.

Courtois exits, Spain smell blood

Belgium arrived in Los Angeles with confidence restored after battering co-hosts the United States 4-1, that result following an extra-time comeback from two goals down against Senegal in the last 32. They know how to suffer. They know how to drag games their way.

But they lost their anchor in the second half.

Midway through the period, Courtois signalled trouble. After carrying them through so many tournaments, the towering goalkeeper could not carry on. He walked off, replaced by Lammens, and the entire mood around the Belgian back line shifted.

Spain sensed it. The European champions tightened their grip on the ball, probing, dragging red shirts from side to side. Lamine Yamal, still with only one goal in five games at this tournament, stretched the pitch. Mikel Oyarzabal, already on four goals and twice on target in the 3-0 win over Austria in the last 32, kept asking questions.

The pressure grew. The clock ticked. Belgium, with Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku fighting what feels like one last World Cup battle, tried to hold on.

They almost made it.

Merino’s moment, Belgium’s reality

Then came the 88th minute. Cubarsi stepped forward and drove a low effort through a crowded area. It should have been routine. Lammens went down to collect, but the ball squirmed loose, and that split-second error was all Merino needed.

He arrived like a man who had been waiting all night for that mistake. One decisive strike and Spain were back in front, their bench erupting as Belgian players sank to their knees.

There was no way back this time. No extra-time escape, no late surge. The team that had rallied past Senegal and ripped through the United States finally ran into a wall they could not move.

Spain, efficient and unflinching, walked off with the prize: a semi-final date with France in Dallas on Tuesday.

Belgium walked off with a harsher question. For De Bruyne, for Lukaku, for the remnants of a Golden Generation that once promised the world, how many more chances will there be?