Spain vs. Belgium: Could La Roja be stunned by the Red Devils in quarter-finals of 2026 World Cup?

Ahead of Spain's 2026 World Cup quarter-final against Belgium, Sports Mole's Football Editor Matt Law discusses La Roja's chances of success.

Matt Law, Football Editor: "Their defensive quality has been the story of this tournament"

I was really disappointed (entertainment value vs. Portugal). It wasn't about the quality of the game, because the quality was good. 

It was more of a tactical game, but the entertainment value between two sides that have got so much talent in the final third was really disappointing from a neutral point of view, just watching a World Cup game between two quality sides. But Spain won't care. 

They don't care how they get through to the latter stages. It was terrible for Ronaldo to go out like that and end his career without a World Cup. 

Still no goals conceded. Quality-wise from the attacking players wasn't probably at the level they would want it to be, especially going into the latter stages of the tournament. 

They'll be the favourites for this game, but if they run into France or Morocco in the semifinals, they'll need to be a lot better from an attacking point of view. 

Their defensive quality has been the story of this tournament. Cubarsi's been fantastic, Laporte's been fantastic, and I think the two fullbacks have been really good. 

Cucurella has got his move to Real Madrid now and has been for me one of the standout players at the World Cup. And very interestingly, Pedro Porro on the right, I know a lot of Tottenham fans who are not his biggest fan, to put it very kindly. 

But he's been really good for Spain, both offensively and defensively. They deserved to win against Portugal. 

Portugal were hanging on and did make it difficult and had their moments, but you always felt like if someone was going to win it in normal time and extra time before a shootout, it would have been Spain. 

I actually thought Merino was offside for the goal on first look, but he was comfortably onside. And it was a really good finish. That's the quality they can bring off the bench. 

That is the difference between a lot of these good teams that have an excellent 11, 12, 13 players and these teams that have an excellent 14, 15, 16, where they can bring on four players of higher quality to make a difference in these games. 

I think that's ultimately what will give them too much for Belgium. Spain are always going to have quality down the other end. I'll make Spain comfortable favourites for this one.