LOS ANGELES, July 8 (Reuters) – Belgium goalkeeper \u2060Thibaut Courtois believes his country can create a surprise at the World Cup and \u2060upset Spain in Friday\u2019s quarter-final after finally beginning to show some form.<\/p>\n
“Everyone on our \u200cteam realises it’s possible. I think we have a strong squad with qualities that Spain will have to take into account,\u201d he told reporters ahead of training on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are surprises in every tournament \u2026 the Champions League, the Europa League, \u200bthe World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are always surprises, and I think we \u2060can be one of them. Eliminating \u2060the European champions would obviously be a huge upset. The confidence is there,\u201d he said after a \u20604-1 \u200cvictory over co-hosts the United States in Seattle on Monday.<\/p>\n
Belgium bumbled through the group phase, eventually topping the standings after beating New Zealand 5-1 in their last fixture after \u2060being held by Egypt and Iran.<\/p>\n
They then scraped by Senegal, coming \u200bback from two goals down \u200cwith five minutes left to take the game to extra time and then win \u20603-2 with a \u200blast-gasp penalty.<\/p>\n
“People were a bit disappointed in us, but we\u2019ve set that right. We\u2019re getting better and better,\u201d Courtois insisted.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpain is the favourite, of course. They are excellent in possession, and when they lose the ball, \u2060they press quickly. That\u2019s where the key lies: knowing how \u200bto quickly exploit the space behind their defence.”<\/p>\n
Spain substitute Mikel Merino earned them a 1-0 last-16 win when he scored against Portugal in the 91st minute on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the goal against Portugal highlights \u2060their strengths,” added Courtois. “We know Lamine Yamal is incredibly talented in one-on-one situations; he\u2019s fast, agile, and can beat two players if necessary.”<\/p>\n
Courtois, rated among the best keepers in world football, knows all about the Spanish threat having played at Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.<\/p>\n
“I’ve lived in Spain for 11 \u200byears, that\u2019s a long time, of course. Life runs on a \u2060slightly later schedule there, and the weather is better. But ultimately, I remain Belgian.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpain is my second \u200bhome, though, and I\u2019ll probably keep living there after my \u200ccareer ends.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also have two children who are \u200bnaturally more Spanish than Belgian, but at the end of the day, tomorrow’s match is all about Belgium,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Atlanta; Editing by Ken Ferris)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES, July 8 (Reuters) – Belgium goalkeeper \u2060Thibaut Courtois believes his country can create a surprise at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,13201,596,85,21418],"class_list":["post-788026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fifa","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}