5 Things we learned from Spain’s late win over Belgium
Another late win for Spain in the knockouts. They seem to be making a habit of scoring late but it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Spanish today, they dominated possession in the first half but were struggling to create any clear-cut chances until the 30th minute when Porro played a 1-2 with Yamal sending the Spurs full-back down the right who played the ball across the box to Dani Olmo whose shot was saved by Courtois but only to Fabian Ruiz who scored the rebound to open the scoring for Spain. It didn’t take long for Belgium to respond as in the 41st minute De Bruyne played a lovely ball through to Castagne who crossed the ball into De Ketalaere who got ahead of Cubarsi to head Belgium back into the game and give Spain their first goal conceded in the entire tournament so far, as the second half wore on Spain were becoming more and more dominant with the game turning when Thibaut Courtois had to come off with an injury in the 71st minute for Senne Lammens. An injury which had a huge impact on the game as in the 88th minute Pau Cubarsi had a pop shot from over 30 yards which was spilled by Lammens to who else but Mikel Merino who sent Spain to the semi-finals of the World Cup with another late goal, a tough moment for Lammens who had only been subbed on 15 minutes earlier. Belgium did have a late chance to equalise as Unai Simon came flying out giving Saelemaekers an open goal but the angle was too tight and he decided to cross instead which was cleared by the Spanish defence, a semi-final date with France on Tuesday next for the Euro 2024 champions. Should be a cracker.
Spain continue to get better and better. It was far from comfortable today for Spain but you could feel the goal was coming in the second half as Spain were strangling Belgium in the final third, they didn’t let conceding their first goal of the tournament affect them and stayed on the front-foot throughout the game. Even when the likes of Yamal, Nico Williams, Oyarzabal aren’t playing to their full ability they have the likes of Rodri, Laporte, Cubarsi, Merino and Cucurella who can step up and drag Spain over the line when the attackers are struggling. Rodri in particular today I thought was immaculate and allowed Spain to control the majority of the game even when Pedri was on the bench for 60 minutes, defensively they still look so comfortable despite conceding today and didn’t allow Lukaku even a sniff when he came on along with the likes of De Bruyne, Doku and Trossard. We are still waiting for Yamal to come to the forefront for Spain in this tournament but he still plays a massive part in how Spain attack and was instrumental in the first goal, they will probably be the underdogs against France on Tuesday but if there’s a team to beat Les Bleus then it’s this Spain team.
A heart breaking way to end a successful tournament for Belgium. I don’t think there was many people that saw Belgium make the quarter-finals of this World Cup so I do think it’s been a successful tournament going out to a brilliant Spanish team, Rudi Garcia opted to bring De Bruyne and Doku back into the starting 11 today which I think did work as De Bruyne played the pass that allowed the first goal for Belgium and Doku was integral to getting Belgium up the pitch when they won the ball back. The injuries to Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans along with Courtois mid game obviously played a huge part in why Belgium struggled today and ultimately went out, it’s been a great tournament for De Ketalaere who is showing that can be Belgium’s long-term future number 9 when Lukaku retires. I’m gutted for Senne Lammens who will be getting all the flack from the Belgian media which I think is quite harsh as Courtois made a similar error for the first Spain goal which will undoubtedly be brushed under the carpet, hopefully he comes back stronger for United next season. Overall the last dance wasn’t ultimately successful for Belgium but they can be proud of getting to the quarter-finals in my opinion.
Just how good is this Spanish defence? I don’t want the Belgium goal to take away just how strong this defensive performance was from Spain for the 90 minutes, for context Belgium have scored 12 goals in the last 3 games in the tournament so they have been firing on all cylinders ahead of this match but couldn’t lay a glove on Spain after their equaliser. Whilst I think their defence was underrated in Euro 2024 they seem to have gone up a level since Pau Cubarsi’s introduction alongside Laporte who has continued his fine form at centre-back for Spain, Cucurella has been the best left-back at the tournament so far and gave Trossard nothing all game forcing Rudi Gracia to take him off in the 60th minute. Pedro Porro has also had a great tournament and has established a great partnership with Yamal down that right-hand-side which led to the first Spain goal, Rodri has fronted the backline brilliantly so far in this World Cup and getting better every game which is why Spain have had such a strong spine at this tournament. The question now is whether or not they can keep out France on Tuesday? If there’s a team that can do it it’s Spain.
How can Spain beat France on Tuesday? There’s a few areas that Spain definitely can get at France in the semi-final, first of all in midfield where I would give Spain the edge especially if Tchouameni isn’t fit enough to start. I’d imagine that Pedri will come back into the starting 11 but Fabian Ruiz definitely has a shout after scoring today, if Spain are to go through then you’d have to imagine that Yamal will have to play a huge part in the game up against Digne where you’d definitely give the Barcelona man the edge. It’s going to be hard to keep France out so you’ll imagine Spain will have to score at least 2 goals to go through whether that’s in 90 minutes or 120 so the subs will be important which I think is why we saw Nico Williams get some minutes today at the end, you’d probably give France the edge but Spain will undoubtedly pose problems for them on Tuesday. Hopefully it’s a cracker that will remembered for years to come.