Mikel Merino’s amazing moment arrived once more, an entire country circling the corner flag with him as football, which somehow always finds a way, provided another absurdly tall tale. The man who came on to score the late, late goals that took Spain into a European championship semi final two years ago and a World Cup quarter final four days ago, only went and did it again. And this time it was even better, his two-month old son Marco, who he has hardly seen, in attendance here. “As he wasn’t there for the quarter-finals, I had to do it in the semi-final too so he could experience it as well,” Merino said.
It is some experience, some hat-trick, some story. What Merino did doesn’t make any sense. For this to happen once is dramatic enough, for it to happen twice messes with your mind, for it to happen a third blows it to bits; what is this sorcery? It was 1-1, the seconds were slipping from them and Spain were desperately seeking a way through when he was introduced as a sub again.
There were less than five minutes to go but he didn’t even need that many. By the time he came off again, he had scored the winner, and Luis de la Fuente was telling him how incredible this all was.
That’s one word for it. The most alert man in the whole of Los Angeles, Merino entered the fray with the clock showing 85.32; it said 87.27 when Pau Cubarsi took aim, Belgium’s substitute goalkeeper Senne Lammers, sent on to replace the injured Thibaut Courtois, spilled it and Merino pounced, smashing the rebound into the net. He’d had less than two minutes and one touch but now the most super of super subs had an 88th minute winner to go with those he had scored on 119 against Germany and 91 against Portugal.
As Merino set off on that now familiar celebration in honour of his father, Angel, Courtois could only watch from the bench, broken. Maybe he could have prevented this, prolonged Belgium’s resistance; Lammers could not, his look lost. This was cruel on Belgium, although Spain will feel justice was done given how they dominated and maybe even that destiny is calling them after two consecutive wins like this.
Their coach certainly may feel vindicated at the end of an afternoon that opened with a big midfield decision being vindicated and closed with one too.
The first of those was to replace Pedri with Fabian Ruiz and the PSG midfielder not only set up the first real opportunity, pulling back for Rodri on ten minutes, but 20 minutes later scored the goal that had seemed to usher in a comfortable passage. A ball from Lamine Yamal, all smooth timing and perfect weighting, set Pedro Porro dashing into the area where he pulled back for Dani Olmo. Olmo’s shot, swept first time, was pushed away by Courtois but Ruiz was there to score from the rebound, stuffing a ball up his shirt in celebration.
Spain had been dominating for a while and now they had a lead that it was hard to imagine them letting go of. A lovely ball from Cubarsi had almost left Alex Baena one on one. A glorious one-touch move broke down on the edge of the area as Mikel Oyarzabal tried to back-heel it to Olmo. And a superb touch from Lamine Yamal saw him escape Jérémy Doku and hit the side-netting. This, in truth, seemed easy now.
And then, suddenly, it wasn’t. 40 minutes and 12 seconds into the sixth game, at 12.40 Pacific Time, Spain conceded their first goal of this World Cup when Charles De Ketelaere headed Belgium level.
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It had started, as everything Belgium did, with Doku dashing forward, and concluded with a moment’s clarity from Kevin De Bruyne. His swift, unfussy first time pass allowed Timothy Castagne to deliver a perfect cross and De Ketelaere got ahead of Cubarsi to score.
The second half began with another superb pass from Cubarsi, this time to release Lamine Yamal only for Courtois saved. The flag was up anyway but a pattern was set, Lamine Yamal’s low shot soon squirming wide before Courtois pushed away the teenager’s curler and denied Oyarzabal. Yet there was also a serious warning at the other end when Doku and De Bruyne combined and Maxim De Cruyper, given a clear sight of goal, rifled his shot into the side of the net.
Belgium held on with all they had but the cracks were showing, their strength sapping. Youri Tielemans had already had to be removed from the XI moments before kick off, now just after the commercial break Courtois was forced off in tears, holding his thigh. De Bruyne would eventually have to go too. A giant obstacle had been removed from Spain’s path but, with countless exchanges cut out at the last, still they hadn’t quite found a way through. Ever deeper, Belgium resisted. The question was how long could they last? The answer, once that man came on, was not long: one minute and fifty-six seconds later, Mikel Merino had written another ridiculous chapter and Spain were in the semi-final.
