Spain Faces Belgium for a Chance at France

European champions Spain are set to meet Kylian Mbappe's France in the World Cup if they beat Belgium in the quarter-final on Friday at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

Belgium has a tough job ahead of them. They need to break through a Spanish defence that has not allowed any goals in the tournament. If Spain wins, they will travel to Texas next Tuesday for a highly anticipated semi-final against France, which many fans are calling the final before the final.

But first, Spain must score against a Belgium team that started off slow but has picked up pace as the tournament has progressed.

The 4-1 thrashing of the USA in the last round showed how much the team, coached by Rudi Garcia, has improved in just a few weeks.

Spain has not shown the same attacking flair as France, but they are playing possession football. This style helped them win their only World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

Lamine Yamal from Barcelona is Spain’s top attacker. He turns 19 next week but came to the U.S. after a late-season injury. He has been quiet at times, scoring just once in five matches. Yamal is seen as the next big star, likely to take over from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and he might be due for a goal soon.

Spain's coach Luis de la Fuente said he knows Yamal has not reached his best form yet.

"We know that the best version of him, the attacking Lamine, is something that we haven’t quite seen yet in this World Cup. Not to the level that we’re used to," he said.

With Yamal not fully in form, Mikel Oyarzabal has stepped up, scoring four goals, including two in the 3-0 win over Austria in the last 32 at SoFi. Spain has allowed only six shots on target in their five matches so far.

Belgium looked old and slow when they started the group stage. But they proved their strength in an exciting comeback win against Senegal in the last 32. Youri Tielemans helped his team come back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 after Romelu Lukaku came off the bench.

The Belgians then smashed the United States in the last 16. This match was marked by President Donald Trump's effort to get US striker Folarin Balogun's red card from the previous round overturned. This boost fired up the Belgians, who humorously mimicked Trump’s YMCA dance on the field.

This World Cup might be the last chance for Belgium’s so-called Golden Generation, which includes Lukaku, former Premier League player of the year Kevin De Bruyne, and Real Madrid's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Belgium is okay with being the underdogs.

Coach Garcia said, "Everyone is already talking about us going home. But we think that we can do it. We think we can pull it off, and we’re going to do everything we can to get to the semis."