Belgium’s next test is Spain, with the quarterfinal set for Friday, July 10, at 3 p.m. ET at Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood, California. The Red Devils earned the meeting by beating Senegal 3-2 in the round of 32 and then getting past the United States in Seattle.
That is why the search for who does Belgium play next matters now: the answer decides whether Belgium keeps moving toward a semifinal date on Tuesday, July 14. If Belgium beats Spain, it would face the winner of the France-Morocco quarterfinal in Arlington, Texas, with the final waiting on July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Spain arrives with a different kind of pressure. Earlier Monday, it beat Portugal 1-0, with Mikel Merino scoring in the fourth minute of stoppage time after a pass from Ferran Torres. Before that goal, Spain had not allowed one through the tournament, which made its defense the story of its run as much as the late winner was.
That is the problem Belgium has to solve. Spain’s clean sheet run was broken, but only after it had already carried the team back to the quarterfinals for the first time since it won the World Cup in 2010. Belgium, meanwhile, has not reached a World Cup semifinal since 2018, when Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne and Youri Tielemans were part of the squad that finished third in Russia.
There is still a larger backdrop here. Belgium is being asked to play out one of its last realistic shots at a title with this group, and the route gets narrow fast. Spain stands in front of it now, and the winner does not get time to settle in — it gets one more knockout match and then, if everything breaks right, the final in New Jersey.
For Cristiano Ronaldo, the tournament has already carried a personal edge. Before Portugal faced Spain, he said it would be his last World Cup and added that whatever happened, he would leave with a clear conscience. Spain ended that run in stoppage time. Belgium now has the same kind of urgency, only with a quarterfinal in Inglewood and a semifinal path that disappears if it slips once.
