As much as national teams can change their identities over time, sometimes the classics never change. Spain hasn’t been winning “pretty” during much of this tournament, but the team is winning in a way reminiscent of its previous World Cup triumph.La Roja haven’t allowed a goal in five matches and have only scored multiple goals in two of those. Still, Spain is in a quarterfinal and is favored to make it past Belgium on Friday.Belgium is coming off a statement win against the United States. The Belgians came in with something to prove and did so. The crowd won’t be against them for this one, but the opponent is far more difficult.The winner gets France in the first semifinal on Tuesday.Here’s a look at the storylines and odds for Spain-Belgium plus some picks from our betting staff.Spain-BelgiumTime: 3 p.m. ETTV: Fox (English), Telemundo (Spanish)Venue: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif.What does it take to score on this Spain team? La Roja haven’t surrendered a goal and have only allowed 1.49 expected goals (xG), by far the best defensive mark of any team in the field. Spain has allowed only 29 total shots and five on target.Goalkeeper Unai Simon hasn’t given up a goal at a World Cup in 609 minutes of play, but he hasn’t been particularly busy. He has made just six saves. That’s barely more than one per match. Wild numbers.That’s the task facing Belgium. The American defense was charitable on most, if not all, of Belgium’s four goals last round. It would be shocking if Spain was as kind.When Spain won it all in 2010, La Roja scored eight goals in seven matches but only allowed two. Spain won all four knockout matches 1-0, including a round-of-16 match against Portugal, mirroring the opponent and score of Monday’s match last round.
Spain-Belgium World Cup quarterfinal odds, best bets: Can La Roja keep shutout streak?
Spain is favored against Belgium in the second quarterfinal at the 2026 World Cup.










