Spain v Belgium: Prediction, team news, lineups and odds | OneFootball

The Spain of this World Cup haven’t always shown the dominance of their previous great sides but since they were the subject of mockery for being held 0-0 by Cape Verde, the 2010 World Cup winners have reeled off four straight wins. For those filling in live brackets, the Spain-France semi-final has looked almost inevitable for quite a while.

Belgium’s presence in the quarter-finals looked far from guaranteed earlier in the tournament. They rather muddled through the group phase with draws against Egypt and Iran along with an easy win over a poor New Zealand and then trailed Senegal 2-0 with four minutes remaining before producing a dramatic turnaround to win 3-2.

There was another plot twist for their last-16 clash with the USA when the co-hosts were allowed to field Folarin Balogun despite his red card in the previous game. The fired-up Belgians turned the outrage into motivation as they blasted a meek American side 4-1.

Spain v Belgium kick-off time

Spain v Belgium kicks off at 8pm BST on Friday (midday local), July 10 at the Los Angeles Stadium.

Spain v Belgium how to watch

The game will be shown live in the UK on BBC One, with coverage starting at 7.30pm.

BBC Radio 5 Live and talkSPORT will both provide full match commentary.

Spain team news

Luis de la Fuente has named the same starting XI for the last two matches – the 3-0 group win over Austria and the narrow 1-0 success over Portugal in the last 16.

Two substitutes combined for the last-gasp winning goal against the Portuguese as Ferran Torres set up Mikel Merino to stroke home but both are likely to start on the bench again.

Spain have yet to concede in the tournament and their back four of Pedro Porro, Pau Cubarsi, Aymeric Laporte and Marc Cucurella should form the starting rearguard once again.

Belgium team news

Rudi Garcia gambled in the last-16 clash with the USA, leaving out superstars Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku. Dodi Lukebakio started on the right wing, which saw Leandro Trossard switch to the left.

It paid off though and the decision to use Charles De Ketelaere ahead of Romelu Lukaku in attack also worked a treat as the Atalanta man scored Belgium’s opening two goals. Lukaku added a fourth in injury time to continue his new status as a super-sub.

Garcia has much to ponder in terms of selection here but one decision made for him is the loss of Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana, who is out for the tournament after rupturing his ACL in the win over the USA.

Spain v Belgium odds

Spain are 8/13 favourites to win in 90 minutes and book their place in the semi-finals.

Belgium are the 4/1 underdogs while The Draw is 14/5.

In the ‘To Qualify’ market which also brings extra-time and penalties into play, Spain are just 3/10 to go through while Belgium are 14/5 to advance.

The winner plays either France or Morocco in the last four.

Spain v Belgium prediction

Perhaps being held by Cape Verde in their opener has done Spain a favour as, ever since, they’ve given the impression that it’ll take a very good team to stop them.

France could be that side in the last four, but Belgium shouldn’t be written off either.

Can Spain really keep out every opposition they come up against? I have my doubts and Belgium have lots of potential goal grabbers.

They’ve outscored Spain 13-9 so far and, going into the last eight, Belgium were the tournament’s second-highest scorers behind France.

So, let’s try a couple of 90-minute correct scorelines: 1-1 at 15/2 and 2-2 at 16/1. We’ve seen some classic matches so far so why not another?

If it does go to a shootout, Spain are 1/11 to win on penalties and Belgium 12/1.

In the goalscorer markets, Belgium’s Youri Tielemans has to be value at 8/1.

He scored twice against Senegal and, as his second was the decisive penalty, he’s likely to stay on spot-kick duty again.