Merino's 88th-Minute Goal Sends Spain Past Belgium

The bench was already on its feet when Mikel Merino began peeling off his tracksuit, somewhere around the 86th minute. The man who has a habit of coming on and settling matches did it again, this time inside two minutes on the pitch, doing exactly what his coach keeps him fresh for. Belgium’s backup goalkeeper Senne Lammens had barely adjusted his gloves before he was fishing the ball out of his own net.

Charles De Ketelaere had earlier brought Belgium back to life. When he made it 1-1 before the break, the game looked like it was tilting his side’s way, especially as Spain dropped a little deeper after taking the lead and let their opponents breathe. Belgium could smell extra time.

Then came the moment that, at a World Cup, separates the teams going home from the ones still dreaming. Cubarsi struck, Lammens spilled the rebound like a hot potato, and Merino was first to the loose ball. No trickery, no flourish, just a striker’s instinct. The Spanish bench spilled onto the field while half the stadium stood open-mouthed.

Spain reached the last four with that 2-1 scoreline. Ruiz put them ahead in the 30th minute, De Ketelaere equalised in the 41st, and Merino signed off the win in the 88th. This is Spain’s first World Cup semifinal since 2010, the same run that ended with the trophy in Johannesburg. On Tuesday in Dallas they face France, who were too strong for Morocco in their own quarterfinal.

What do the numbers behind the result say?

Belgium walked into this match wounded before the first whistle. Captain Youri Tielemans pulled up in the warm-up and stayed in the dressing room, forcing a late reshuffle in midfield. Add the second-half injury to Thibaut Courtois and you get a picture of a side this game was grinding down off the pitch as much as on it.

That goalkeeping misfortune proved decisive. Courtois had kept Belgium alive with a handful of saves before he went off, and then a man who had not had five minutes to find his rhythm was thrown in. Merino’s goal was no masterpiece, it was a reward for the player who runs to the end. Spain pressed, believed, and cashed in on their opponent’s only real slip. That is the champion’s mentality people talk about: when a crack opens, you turn it into a goal.

It is telling, too, that Merino has done this twice now on the big stage. He has already been the man off the bench who changes the flow, which raises the obvious question of how long someone like that can stay a substitute.

What comes next for Spain?

A semifinal against France is the kind of match this sport exists for. Two European giants, two schools, two teams that can play both hard and pretty. Spain go in with the wind at their backs and a player currently writing himself into the story as a hero from the shadows; France arrive with squad depth few can match.

Spain have shown they can hold on even when a match refuses to follow the plan, and at a World Cup that is worth more than any pretty passing move. Now it falls to the coach to decide whether Merino stays a bench weapon or has earned a start from the first minute.

So here is the question before Tuesday: does Spain have the composure to survive France in Dallas too, or was that 88th-minute goal the last spare life this team had?