Lamine Yamal’s Spain take on Belgium’s old guard in the World Cup quarter-finals
Spain reached the last eight for the first time since their 2010 triumph, while Belgium ground out a comeback and a rout to get here. They meet in Los Angeles on July 10.
Jul 7, 2026
The World Cup 2026 quarter-final draw has thrown up a tie of sharp contrasts. Spain, the youngest and arguably the most fluent side left in the tournament, will meet a Belgium team squeezing one last run out of a generation that has been chasing this stage for a decade. The winner books a semi-final place, and the two arrive in Los Angeles from very different directions.
The match is set for Friday, July 10 at SoFi Stadium. For fans in India that means a start in the small hours of Saturday, around 12:30am IST, so this is one to plan a late night or an early alarm around.
Spain have looked the part
Luis de la Fuente’s side have carried themselves like a team that expects to go deep. They swept Austria aside in the round of 32 and then produced their most complete knockout performance yet against Portugal, edging a tight last-16 tie 1-0 when Mikel Merino popped up in stoppage time to settle it. It was not vintage flowing Spain, but it was the kind of result good tournament teams find a way to win.
Lamine Yamal remains the player opponents build their week around. At 18 he is already the reference point for everything Spain do in the final third, and de la Fuente has a supporting cast in Merino, Mikel Oyarzabal, Pedri and Rodri that gives the team control in midfield and threat from several angles. Getting past Portugal has taken Spain into the last eight for the first time since 2010, the year they went on to lift the trophy, and that piece of history will not have escaped a squad that fancies its chances of another.
Belgium keep finding a way
If Spain have been controlled, Belgium have been all drama. Rudi Garcia’s team looked dead and buried in the round of 32, trailing Senegal 2-0 before hauling themselves level and then winning it 3-2 deep into extra time. It was a comeback that said as much about the group’s stubbornness as its quality.
Against the United States they were far more convincing. Charles De Ketelaere scored twice as Belgium dismantled the co-hosts 4-1 to send one of the tournament’s home nations out and book this meeting with Spain. That result also felt like a marker for a Belgium side that has spent years being told its window had closed. Youri Tielemans captains the team, and the familiar names of Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku are still around, even if their form has flickered rather than blazed across the knockout rounds.
What to watch
The obvious duel is Yamal against a Belgium defence that has already shown it can be pulled apart, having conceded twice to Senegal before tightening up against the Americans. If Spain move the ball at their usual tempo, Belgium will need to be far more disciplined than they were on that chaotic night in the round of 32.
Belgium’s route back into it may run through De Ketelaere, who has grown into this tournament just as some of his more celebrated team-mates have faded. He gives Garcia a focal point and a finisher, and on the evidence of the win over the USA he is peaking at the right time.
Spain start as favourites, and deservedly so, but Belgium have made a habit this summer of ignoring the script. A last-eight tie with a semi-final on the other side of it should bring the best out of both.