Spain heads to semifinals with another goal in the final minutes: France will be the rival in semis and Argentina and England will dispute another spot in the final

Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14, the first semifinal match of this 2026 World Cup begins. The 4 teams still alive in the competition are England, France, Argentina, and of course, Spain. But to get here, these teams have had to go through a very tough quarter-final round.

In the case of the Spanish national team, it had to face a tough Belgian team. Spain started with a good rhythm, taking the lead in the 30th minute with a goal from one of the new faces in the starting eleven, Fabián Ruiz. However, it was not going to be that simple, as in the 44th minute the Belgian team equalized the match, causing Spain to concede its first goal of the tournament, breaking the unbeaten record. The second half was a monologue by the Spaniards, but the goal did not come. The match seemed to be heading for extra time, however, in the 90th minute, the Spanish talisman, Mikel Merino, reappeared to score the winning goal again and qualify Spain for its second semifinals in its history.

In France's turn, they faced the only African team left alive, which was Morocco. The French did not have much trouble in defense as they carried the weight of the attack throughout the match. The goal finally came in the 68th minute, after a great shot by Mbappé, who now has 8 goals. After the goal, French dominance continued, and in the 66th minute, they scored the second to seal the tie and qualify France for its third consecutive semifinal in the last three World Cups.

England, on the other hand, struggled a lot against one of the revelations of the tournament, Norway. The match started with a great Norwegian goal, to which the English team responded very well with a great goal from Jude Bellingham. However, in the second half, the English team was more uncomfortable, with the Norwegians taking more initiative in the match. Thus, the match went to extra time, which was very even, but was decided by a mistake by the Norwegian goalkeeper that Bellingham took advantage of again to qualify the English.

Finally, the current champion, Argentina, suffered again to advance to the next round. Their opponent was a tough Switzerland team that had a great tournament. Argentina took the lead with a great header from Mac Allister. However, Switzerland absorbed the goal well and took the initiative in the match. So much so, that in the 67th minute they scored the equalizer with a great play. The match was very even until in the 72nd minute, Switzerland's striker, Embolo, was sent off after an absurd action of simulating a foul. Even so, the match went to extra time. And it wasn't until the 111th minute, when Julián Álvarez scored a real screamer to put his team ahead and pave their way to the semifinals. The final score was 3-1, to qualify Argentina for the semifinals again.

Spain will fight France again

The semifinals of this World Cup have made France and Spain face each other again. However, this time it is on the biggest possible stage, as whoever wins will qualify for the grand final. The French have been leaving better impressions, however, Spain has been undefeated for 36 matches and is also playing good football, so it will be a super even match that we hope will lean towards the Spanish side.