World Cup: Spain Advances to Semi-Finals with Late Victory over Belgium

SadaNews - Spain has reached the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup, with a late victory over Belgium 2 – 1, on Friday, in Los Angeles.

At the stunning Sofi Stadium and in front of 70,000 spectators, Spain's European champion Fabian Ruiz scored (30) and substitute Mikel Merino (88), while Belgium’s Charles De Ketelaere scored (41), setting up a fiery encounter in the last four against France, who defeated Morocco 2 - 0 on Tuesday in Dallas.

This is Spain's first semi-final qualification since the 2010 edition when they won their only title in history.

The quarter-final round concludes on Saturday with matches between England and Norway in Miami, and Argentina, the defending champion, against Switzerland in Kansas.

Spain had to wait until the last moments to eliminate their neighbor Portugal in the Round of 16, after Merino came off the bench to score the only goal of the match in stoppage time of the second half. He repeated his feat again by scoring the winning goal just two minutes after coming on.