Spain beat Belgium 2-1 and backed up the result with more play and more chances
Spain won 2-1 in the quarter-finals with a far superior chance creation output: 2.0 to 0.4. Possession, shots, and the overall flow of the game helped secure a victory that was decided late.
Spain got past Belgium 2-1 in the World Cup quarter-finals, and they did it with numbers that support the tight scoreline by a wide margin. The clearest difference was in what they created: 2.0 goal chances for Spain against just 0.4 for Belgium, with 68% possession and 16 shots for the winning side.
Tactical reading
The game left Spain as the team that controlled more, attacked more, and forced the opponent to spend more time chasing the ball. The 68% to 32% possession split points to sustained dominance, and that control was not limited to circulation: it turned into 16 shots, 7 of them on target. On the other side, Belgium needed much less to stay in the game, but its attacking output was limited: just 5 shots and 2 on target.
The gap in chances created also helps make sense of the match clearly. Spain produced 2.0 and Belgium 0.4; in other words, the Spanish win was not inflated by luck, but built on a real advantage in volume and penetration. The shots data supports that reading as well: the Spain side carried the attacking burden for longer and generated more entries, while Belgium found fewer ways to settle near the opposition goal.
Both teams lined up in the same shape, 4-2-3-1 for Spain and 4-2-3-1 for Belgium, so the difference came down to execution and the ability to turn possession into danger. It also shows up in the yellow cards: 2 for Spain and 1 for Belgium, a minor detail in a match that was close on the scoreboard but saw one side much more active in the play.
The standouts
The ratings also paint a pretty clear picture of the most influential names in the match.
- Thibaut Courtois (Belgium) posted the best rating of the match with 7.9.
- Charles De Ketelaere (Belgium) finished on 7.7 and also scored the temporary equalizer.
- Rodri (Spain) ended with 7.3.
That Courtois came out as the top-rated player of the night, even in defeat, fits with Spain's volume of chances: the Belgian goalkeeper was subjected to a heavier workload. De Ketelaere, meanwhile, stands out as Belgium's most notable player not only for his rating but also for his goal in the 41', which brought the game level after the opening strike by F. Ruiz in the 30'.
Turning point
The stretch that tilted the story most came late on, when M. Merino scored in the 88' and gave Spain the decisive 2-1. Before that, the match had stayed open after Charles De Ketelaere's equalizer in the 41', following F. Ruiz's goal in the 30'.
That second Spanish goal ultimately confirmed the winning side's statistical superiority and settled a tie that, by the scoreline, had remained alive until the end.
In short, Spain took a victory that matched what it produced: more possession, more shots, and far more chance creation. Belgium had enough resistance to stay in the match, but the numbers made clear who did more to win it.
