Key events
“Hola. Any word on Williams, is he fit?” asks Shane Cahill.
Seems not. He played a half of football altogether in the group stage and hasn’t made it off the bench in the knockouts. Álex Baena has had a good tournament playing on the left in his place and seems to offer Spain a bit more control when in possession. Maybe they’re waiting to unleash Williams against France.
Pau Cubarsí has also made a real difference alongside Aymeric Laporte …
Cubarsí in particular has been superb. For all the talk of Lamine Yamal, the kid who eclipses all else, it is the other teenager at the other end that has most impressed. Born in tiny Estanyol, a village with a population of around 200, the son of a carpenter who ran a family business going back four generations, Cubarsí is the second youngest man ever to make his debut for Spain. Lamine Yamal is the first. The day Cubarsí made his Barcelona debut, he and Lamine Yamal were younger than Robert Lewandowski put together.
There was something about him that was different from the start. “When I watch him, my heart rate doesn’t change,” Barcelona’s then-coach Xavi Hernández said. De la Fuente had given him his Spain debut and although he decided not to take him to the Euros, judging it a little soon, that calmness is clear here. “It doesn’t seem like he’s 19, the way he takes on responsibility is enviable,” Simón says. Cubarsí has completed 96% of his 449 passes, and not just sideways: 34 of his 71 against Portugal went into the opposition’s half. There were 19 recoveries, 23 defensive actions completed. Only Paolo Maldini reached as many clean sheets so fast.
Spain have made history in getting so far in a World Cup without conceding a goal.
As Sid Lowe says from Los Angeles, Unai Simón has had to fend off some very strong competition to keep the No 1 spot.
Not so long ago, Simón admitted that he had once wondered whether it was all worth it. Playing in goal, he says, can be a bit “thankless”. The front pages are for others. The good ones are, anyway: the “noise” was his. All year, he has been at the centre of the debate. How could he not be when Athletic Club were struggling and those competing with him are David Raya, the best goalkeeper in the Premier League, and Joan García, the best in La Liga? “Sod it, I’ll say it: we have the best goalkeepers at the World Cup,” Simón insisted a few days ago.
For Luis de la Fuente, though, it was never a debate, however insistent the noise got. He had coached Simón all the way through the youth teams, winning it all: the under-19 and under-21 Euros, Olympic silver, the Nations League, Euro 2024. They were practically family and now look: now Spain feel like Spain again and Simón has made history. No other country has ever reached the sixth game of a men’s World Cup without conceding.
Starting lineups: De Bruyne and Doku return for Belgium
Spain make one change to the team that beat Portugal, with Fabián Ruiz coming in for Pedri in midfield. Kevin De Bruyne returns to the XI for Belgium after watching the win over the USA from the bench – he replaces Amadou Onana, who ruptured his ACL in that match. Jérémy Doku is also back in from the start in place of Dodi Lukébakio.
Spain (4-2-3-1): Simón; Porro, Cubarsí, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Ruiz; Lamine Yamal, Olmo, Baena; Oyarzabal.
Subs: Raya, J García, Pubill, Grimaldo, E García, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Muñoz, Iglesias, Pedri.
Belgium (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Castagne, Ngoy, Mechele, De Cuyper; Tielemans, Raskin; Trossard, De Bruyne, Doku; De Ketelaere.
Subs: Lammens, Penders, Theate, Witsel, Lukaku, Lukébakio, Meunier, De Winter, Seys, Moreira, Vanaken, Saelemaekers, Fernandez-Pardo.
Referee: Michael Oliver (England)
An early dip into the mailbag …
“I hope the Belgians have been practicing their Trumpian tiny-fist dance since that USA game. It was the only disappointing aspect of an otherwise convincing performance. As for the Spanish, a red muleta celebration would be a fun provocation to the bull currently threatening to end all trade with them. He still might find himself handing them a big chuck of gold in nine days time” – Justin Kavanagh
“Good morning it’s 1:25 and I’m desperately trying to stay awake for the match. Shades of Qatar where the old sleep schedule went down the pan. I for one am hoping for a Belgium win. I have not enjoyed any of the Spain matches (apart from Cape Verde, snigger). I’m Costa Rican so I have no skin in the game as they say but I do have Norway in the sweepstakes. Thanks as always for the the great commentary and for so far keeping me awake!” – Alexandra Fullerton
I saw off my own sweepstake team by doing the minute-by-minute for Colombia 0-0 Switzerland (3-4 pens) the other day. I think I kept it together pretty well.
Spain and Belgium today meet for the first time in a decade – which is pretty impressive considering the invention of the Nations League. They last played in a friendly in September 2016, with Julen Lopetegui and Roberto Martínez taking charge of their respective teams for the first time. Belgium were booed off in Brussels as David Silva’s double earned Spain a 2-0 win.
The last time these two faced each other in a major tournament was Italia 90 – Alberto Górriz bagged the winner in Verona to send Spain through as group winners. Their only previous World Cup meeting was the quarter-final four years before that saw Belgium win on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Puebla.
Starting lineups are coming up shortly but Belgium’s preparations have involved a dispute with Sporting over the fitness of Zeno Debast. The centre-back was on the bench for the first time this World Cup against the USA after missing the start of the tournament with an injury. His club maintain that he is not fit to play and the Belgian FA said “this assessment differs from that of the Red Devils’ medical staff”. Belgium appear to have bowed to Sporting’s wishes and the FA said he would not play in this quarter-final.
As mentioned, an ominous France team await the winners of this one after they eased past a pretty meek Morocco in Boston yesterday.
Jonathan Wilson was there:
How can you stop France? You can defend with great organisation and concentration, block and tackle and harry and work, your keeper can make two or three excellent saves, and then one of their forwards conjures a goal like that.
And so was Raphaël Jucobin:
In his pre-match press conference, Deschamps conceded that his team could still improve in front of goal. “The better the quality of the opponent, the more clinical you have to be,” he underlined. As Les Bleus prepare to leave the east coast for the first time since their arrival in the US for their semi-final in Dallas, there is a sense that they will be leaving the comfort zone they have established both on and off the pitch.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the second quarter-final of the 2026 World Cup. After dealing with the USA (and everything else) in the last 16, the last dregs of Belgium’s golden generation must now take on the unmovable object of this tournament. Spain are yet to concede a goal after five matches and have not come this far at the World Cup since they won the damn thing in 2010.
While the World Cup pedigree of Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku is unquestionable – they beat Brazil in their last quarter-final – we are still yet to see Lamine Yamal’s real arrival on this stage. The Barcelona winger, who turns 19 on Monday, has registered a single goal and no assists at these finals and is perhaps the only world superstar yet to make his mark. Could today be his day?
The winner of this one will play France (good luck) in the semis next Tuesday in Dallas.
Kick-off in Los Angeles is midday local time, 8pm BST and 5am AEST. Feel free to get in touch with me via email. Let’s go.
