Spain beats Belgium late to reach World Cup semifinals

Spain needed a late surge to break Belgium in Los Angeles, and Mikel Merino provided it in the 88th minute as La Roja won 2-1 to reach the World Cup semifinals. The quarterfinal at Los Angeles Stadium drew Spanish and Belgian supporters into a tense, cross-border setting that mirrored the tournament’s wider pull on a U.S. stage.

Fabian Ruiz opened the scoring for Spain before Belgium answered to keep the match alive deep into the second half. Then Merino finished the decisive move late, giving Spain the advantage that held through the final whistle and sending the Spanish side through to face France in Dallas on Tuesday. NBC News identified Merino’s strike as the go-ahead goal, while Reuters placed it in the 88th minute.

The setting sharpened the stakes. The match kicked off at 19:00 in Los Angeles, 21:00 in Madrid and 21:00 in Brussels, a schedule that turned the stadium into a shared night watch for fans on both sides of the Atlantic. Spain and Belgium arrived as leaders of their groups, with Spain unbeaten after a 3-0 win over Austria in the round of 32 and Belgium having advanced after eliminating the United States in the previous round.

Belgium’s problems began before kickoff, when captain Youri Tielemans was injured during the warmup. That setback fit the broader picture around a Belgian side already described as hit by injuries, while Spain carried the momentum of a team that had not lost in the tournament. FIFA said the result extended Spain’s unbeaten run to a level that matched Argentina’s sequence from 2019 to 2022 and left only Italy’s 37-match stretch between 2018 and 2021 ahead of it.

Michael Oliver of England officiated the match, with Ramon Abatti serving as fourth official. In a tournament designed to move elite soccer into American stadiums and broadcast it back across the world, Los Angeles delivered the kind of late, emotionally volatile finish that turns a quarterfinal into a commercial showcase and a cultural event at the same time.