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Belgium's last dance runs into the team they've never solved

Belgium's golden generation — Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Thibaut Courtois — was ranked number one in the world for nearly four years and won nothing. They're 34, 32 and 33 now, and this is openly the last ride. So of course they just played their best match in years: a 4-1 dismantling of the host nation in Seattle, Charles De Ketelaere scoring twice and Lukaku adding one in stoppage time. A team famous for brilliance and heartbreak fighting each other finally looked like the brilliant version, at the exact moment it mattered.

Spain are the reigning European champions and one of the favorites, and they've been winning the way favorites do when they're not quite purring: a 0-0 against tiny Cape Verde to open, a 3-0 over Austria, and then a 1-0 over Portugal decided in the ninety-first minute — substitute Mikel Merino, set up by fellow substitute Ferran Torres, with what turned out to be the goal that ended Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup career. Eighteen-year-old Lamine Yamal wears the number ten; Rodri, back from a year lost to a knee injury, runs everything behind him.

The history here has one golden Belgian memory and then a long silence. At the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal — this exact round — Jan Ceulemans put Belgium ahead, Spain equalized late, and Belgium survived a shootout 5-4 to reach their first semifinal. Spain have made them pay ever since: Belgium haven't beaten them in the four decades since that night. Aging legends with one last shot, against the team that always beats them and a teenager who represents everything coming next. That's the game.

Golden Boot

Charles De Ketelaere's brace against the USA made him Belgium's man of the moment; Spain's goals have come from everywhere — Oyarzabal's two against Austria, then Merino off the bench against Portugal.

Form

• Belgium survived a 3-2 thriller against Senegal in the Round of 32, then beat hosts USA 4-1 in Seattle — De Ketelaere twice, a goalkeeping error punished by Hans Vanaken, and Lukaku in stoppage time.
• Spain opened the tournament with a 0-0 against debutants Cape Verde, then found their footing: 3-0 over Austria (an Oyarzabal brace) and a 90+1' Merino winner to knock out Portugal.