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Spain will face Belgium on Friday, July 10 at Los Angeles Stadium in a quarterfinal matchup, as both teams look to advance to the semifinals.
Spain reached the round of 16 by defeating Austria 3-0 in the round of 32, before emerging from a tight round of 16 match against Portugal with a goal from Mikel Merino in added time.
Belgium reached this point with a miraculous 3-2 comeback against Senegal, winning in extra time after trailing 2-0 in the 86th minute. Two late goals took the match to extra time, before Youri Tielemans scored the winning goal from the penalty spot.
Belgium followed that up with a resounding 4-1 victory over the United States in the round of 16, advancing to the quarterfinals after a lackluster start to their World Cup.
Who are the referees of the Spain-Belgium World Cup?
If you are a fan of the Premier League, you are most likely familiar with the central referee of the Spain-Belgium match: the experienced Michael Oliver.
(Photo by Grzegorz Wajda/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
This is Oliver’s second World Cup and his fourth mission in this tournament. He has already been a referee in Holland-Sweden, Norway-France and Canada-Morocco, and the Canada-Morocco match will be played in the round of 16. Oliver is a highly experienced referee who has worked on high-stakes domestic matches in England as well as prestigious Champions League matches at club level.
His assistants will be the English Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring, while the fourth official will be the Brazilian Ramon Abatti.
Referee: Michael Oliver (England)
Assistant referee 1: Stuart Burt (England)
Assistant referee 2: James Mainwaring (England)
Fourth referee: Ramon Abatti (Brazil)
