Spain’s Lamine Yamal (19) walks off the pitch after the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Portugal and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
LOS ANGELES–European champion Spain is on a World Cup collision course with Kylian Mbappe’s France if it may possibly beat Belgium in a quarterfinal on Friday.
On the spectacular SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, the Belgians face the daunting task of breaking through a Spanish defense that has yet to concede a goal within the tournament.
If Spain wins, it is going to head to Texas next Tuesday for a mouth-watering semi-final against France that many observers are already describing as the ultimate before the ultimate.
First, though, Spain needs to search out goals against a Belgium team which began the World Cup slowly but caught fire because the tournament has gone on.
The 4-1 demolition of the USA within the last round showed just how far the team coached by Rudi Garcia have are available just a number of weeks.
Spain, meanwhile, has not displayed the attacking flair of France but it surely is playing the possession-based football that carried it to the country’s only World Cup triumph, in South Africa in 2010.
Lamine Yamal of Barcelona, who turns 19 next week, is Spain’s standout attacker but he arrived in the US after suffering a late-season injury and has seemed a peripheral figure at times, scoring only once in five games.
Yamal, widely tipped to inherit the mantle of the world’s biggest player from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, might be due a goal.
“We all know that the most effective version of him, the attacking Lamine, is something that we haven’t quite seen yet on this World Cup. To not the extent that we’re used to,” said Spain coach Luis de la Fuente.
In Yamal’s absence, Mikel Oyarzabal has scored 4 times, including twice within the 3-0 defeat of Austria within the last 32 at SoFi.
Spain has conceded just six shots on track of their five matches to this point.
Higher and higher
Belgium’s Hans Vanaken (20) celebrates after scoring his side’s third goal throughout the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between the US and Belgium in Seattle, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Belgium looked leaden and its stars ageing when it opened its group-stage account.
However the Belgians showed their mettle in an exciting defeat of Senegal within the last 32, when Youri Tielemans dragged his team back from 2-0 right down to a 3-2 victory after the introduction of Romelu Lukaku as an impact substitute.
They then demolished the US within the last 16, in a game overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s intervention to get US striker Folarin Balogun’s red card from the previous round cancelled.
That move fired up the Belgians, who gently mocked Trump with an on-field imitation of the president’s YMCA dance.
The World Cup is probably going the last hurrah for the rest of Belgium’s so-called Golden Generation, including Lukaku, former Premier League player of the yr Kevin De Bruyne and towering goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois of Real Madrid.
Belgium is comfortable with its status as underdog.
Coach Garcia said: “Everyone seems to be already talking about us going home. But we expect that we will do it.
“We predict we will pull it off, and we’re going to do every part we will to get to the semis.”
England’s bid to return to the semi-finals after a last-eight exit 4 years ago hit one other bump as centre-half Marc Guehi is now a doubt for Saturday’s meeting with Norway with a hamstring strain.
The Manchester City defender shall be assessed Friday, but with Jarell Quansah suspended for the quarter-final clash in Miami after being sent off against Mexico within the previous round, coach Thomas Tuchel finds himself with unwanted defensive headaches as he plots on find out how to stop Erling Haaland.
On Thursday, France turned what was expected to be a good quarter-final with Morocco right into a clinical 2-0 win in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Mbappe scored his eighth goal of this World Cup and twentieth overall before Ousmane Dembele accomplished the job.
The France captain was substituted and applied an ice pack to his foot, but was quick to reassure France fans that it was nothing serious.