Merino's stoppage-time header sends Spain past Belgium and into the World Cup semi-finals

Desk note: Monexus framed this as a Spanish story with Belgian counter-evidence, rather than the reverse, on the grounds that the decisive act was Merino's and the night's structural information sat with the Spanish bench. The Courtois injury is treated as one input among several, not as the explanatory frame the Belgian post-mortems will inevitably reach for.