{"id":19997,"date":"2026-07-11T09:00:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=19997"},"modified":"2026-07-11T09:00:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:15:51","slug":"merinos-late-winner-sends-spain-into-world-cup-semifinals-after-beating-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=19997","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Merino\u2019s Late Winner Sends Spain Into World Cup Semifinals After Beating Belgium<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Dragon Media News Desk<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Spain have entered the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup 2026 after defeating Belgium 2\u20131 in a thrilling quarterfinal match.<\/p>\n<p>Mikel Merino emerged as the hero for Spain. Coming on as a substitute, he scored the decisive goal in the 88th minute to send the 2010 World Cup champions into the last four.<\/p>\n<p>Fabian Ruiz had given Spain an early lead in the 30th minute. Belgium responded in the 41st minute through Charles De Ketelaere, who brought the match level at 1\u20131 before halftime.<\/p>\n<p>Both teams created chances in the second half, but the match remained level for a long period. Just before the end of regular time, Merino scored the winning goal, ending Belgium\u2019s World Cup campaign in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n<p>Merino had also been decisive for Spain in the Round of 16, scoring in stoppage time against Portugal to send his team into the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n<p>Spain will now face France in the semifinals, while Belgium have been eliminated from the tournament.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-background-color\">\n\t\t\t  <div \n\t\t\t  \tclass = \"fb-comments\" \n\t\t\t  \tdata-href = \"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=19997\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-numposts = \"10\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-lazy = \"true\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-colorscheme = \"light\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-order-by = \"time\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-mobile=true>\n\t\t\t  <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t  <style>\n\t\t    .fb-background-color {\n\t\t\t\tbackground: #ffffff !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {\n\t\t\t    width: 100% !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t  <\/style>\n\t\t  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dragon Media News Desk Spain have entered the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup 2026 after defeating Belgium 2\u20131 in a thrilling quarterfinal match. Mikel Merino emerged as the hero for Spain. Coming on as a substitute, he scored the decisive goal in the 88th minute to send the 2010 World Cup champions into the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Merino\u2019s Late Winner Sends Spain Into World Cup Semifinals After Beating Belgium - Dragon Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=19997\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merino\u2019s Late Winner Sends Spain Into World Cup Semifinals After Beating Belgium - Dragon Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dragon Media News Desk Spain have entered the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup 2026 after defeating Belgium 2\u20131 in a thrilling quarterfinal match. Mikel Merino emerged as the hero for Spain. Coming on as a substitute, he scored the decisive goal in the 88th minute to send the 2010 World Cup champions into the &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/?p=19997\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dragon Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61560346806474\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-11T03:15:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/spainnn.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"531\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dragon Media\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dragon Media\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dragon Media\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cbbc40ba051fb45aeb6f5846f090f5eb\"},\"headline\":\"Merino\u2019s Late Winner Sends Spain Into World Cup Semifinals After Beating Belgium\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-11T03:15:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997\"},\"wordCount\":175,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/spainnn.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997\",\"name\":\"Merino\u2019s Late Winner Sends Spain Into World Cup Semifinals After Beating Belgium - Dragon Media\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/spainnn.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-11T03:15:51+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/spainnn.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/spainnn.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":531},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/?p=19997#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Merino\u2019s Late Winner Sends Spain Into World Cup Semifinals After Beating Belgium\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eng.dragonmedia.com.np\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u0921\u094d\u0930\u093e\u0917\u0928 \u092e\u093f\u0921\u093f\u092f\u093e\",\"description\":\"committed to true &amp; 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