Spain do not seem content with simply winning matches any more; they appear determined to turn every late stage into a personal test of nerve. And once again, Mikel Merino was the man to settle it, this time with an 88th-minute winner that sent Spain into the World Cup semi-finals.
This was Spain's sixth game of the World Cup, and for a long stretch it looked like the sort of tense, awkward quarter-final that can swallow momentum whole. Belgium had been resilient, Spain had to keep pushing, and when Thibaut Courtois was injured and replaced by Senne Lammens, the balance of the contest shifted in a way that mattered. It still took a moment of ruthless timing to break through.
Merino does it again
The theme is becoming impossible to ignore. Two years ago, Merino came off the bench to score the late goals that took Spain into a European championship semi-final. Four days ago, he did it again to take Spain into a World Cup quarter-final. Now he has repeated the trick in even bigger fashion, arriving in the 85.32th minute and deciding the game with the kind of cold-blooded finish that changes tournament narratives.
The sequence was not even especially elaborate. At 87.27, Pau Cubarsí shot, Lammens spilled the ball, and Merino was there to punish the mistake. That is what good tournament teams do: they stay alive long enough for the chaos to break in their favour, and then they make sure it counts.
Spain had already shown flashes of control before the winner. At 10 minutes, Fabián Ruiz set up Rodri for their first real opportunity, and about 20 minutes later Ruiz scored from the rebound after a Dani Olmo shot was saved. Belgium hit back when Charles De Ketelaere headed level 40 minutes and 12 seconds into the sixth game, and from there the match became a test of patience and nerve.
Merino, though, has turned late goals into a habit. The quote after the match said plenty about the mindset: as he wasn’t there for the quarter-finals, he had to do it in the semi-final too so he could experience it as well. That is tournament football in one sentence — a little cheek, a little pressure, and one player repeatedly deciding that Spain's late drama should belong to him.
Manager Luis de la Fuente called the whole thing incredible, and fair enough. It was. But beyond the emotion, there is a harder truth for everyone else in this World Cup: Spain keep finding the moment, and Merino keeps finding the net. That is not luck anymore. That is a weapon.
