World Cup 2026: Why substitutes keep deciding matches in the final 20 minutes

 Substitutes have scored 52 of 250 goals at this World Cup, the highest rate in over a decade. From Merino's two late strikes for Spain to Haaland's late double for Norway, it isn't luck. It's exhaustion, arriving on schedule.


Mikel Merino had been on the pitch for a mere one minute and fifty-seven seconds when he scored the goal that sent Spain into the World Cup semi-final. Belgium’s backup goalkeeper Senne Lammens, in only because Thibaut Courtois had gone off injured, spilt a Pau Cubarsi shot into his path in the 88th minute. One substitute punished another substitute’s mistake, in a match Belgium had also started without their injured captain. It was Merino’s second goal as a substitute at this World Cup, with his first coming six days earlier, in the 91st minute, six minutes after coming on, and it ended Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup.

Matches at this tournament have been settled less by ninety minutes of football than by whoever is still standing in the final twenty. Sometimes that’s a substitute; sometimes just a starter who has run less than the man marking him.




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