Belgium was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup 2026 after losing 2-1 to Spain. The Belgian royal palace praised the team’s journey and said it was proud of the players and that the future belonged to them.
California [यूएस]July 11 (ANI): Belgium’s royal palace praised the national football team after their FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-final exit against Spain. He said that the players can be proud of their journey and promised that the future is theirs. Belgium’s World Cup campaign ended with a 2–1 defeat against Spain in the quarter-finals.
The official account of the Royal Palace of Belgium shared a message of support for the team following their defeat at X. The royal palace wrote, “It wasn’t meant to be, but you fought to the end. We are incredibly proud of your amazing journey, @BelRedDevils! The future is yours!”
Exciting match between Spain and Belgium
Talking about the match, Fabian Ruiz, who was included in the team in place of Pedri, and substitute Mikel Merino scored goals for Spain, while Charles de Ketelere scored for Belgium. In this match, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was also out due to injury. Ruiz opened the scoring by scoring after Belgian goalkeeper Courtois deflected Dani Olmo’s effort into his path. Spain continued to threaten through Lamine Yamal, whose impressive performance earned him the Player of the Match award.
Belgium equalized just before halftime when Kevin De Bruyne played a pass to Timothy Castagne on the right and the defender’s precise cross was converted with a header by De Ketelere. He timed his run perfectly to stay onside. This goal also ended Spain’s goalkeeper Unai Simon’s record of not conceding a goal in the World Cup for 560 consecutive minutes. He overtook the previous tournament record of 517 minutes set by Italy’s Walter Zenga in 1990.
Belgium suffered a major blow in the 71st minute when Courtois went off with an apparent injury and was replaced by Sené Lammens. The substitute goalkeeper soon conceded a goal when he was unable to stop Pau Cubarsi’s long-range effort, which Marino, who had recently entered the field, scored on the rebound to give the team the victory.
This victory has extended Spain’s unbeaten streak to 36 matches after the defeat against Colombia. This equaled Argentina’s unbeaten streak between 2019 and 2022 and left them just one game shy of Italy’s world-record 37-match unbeaten streak.
Spain will now face France in the much-awaited semi-finals as they continue their bid for another FIFA World Cup title.
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