ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Spain defeated world cup records With his sixth consecutive clean sheet, goalkeeper Unai Simon extended his longest scoreless streak in the competition to 609 minutes on Monday. 1-0 victory over Portugal.
Spain tied Italy (1990) and Switzerland (2006-2010) for the record for consecutive clean sheets at the World Cup. Spain’s winning streak began with a 0-0 draw in the Round of 16 in 2022, when Morocco advanced on penalties.
There was also a surprising no score. Draw with Cape Verde In this tournament, they made it through the opening round in group play and advanced to the quarterfinals with four consecutive shutout wins.
Simon surpassed previous records No points scored for 517 consecutive minutes Austria 3-0 blank The knockout round begins on Thursday. Famous Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga set a record in 1990 with five consecutive clean sheets at his home World Cup.
Simon’s shutout streak began in 2022 when he lost 2-1 to Japan in the final group play game in Qatar.
He entered the World Cup with just four saves against Portugal — Austria had zero shots on target — and against Portugal on Monday at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, Simon had to make two saves in the first half, both of which were on goal. Cristiano Ronaldo.
The second of these saves is impressive dive stopwhen he was still in the air after reaching out to grab the ball with both hands. Ronaldo took the shot after teammate Joao Félix’s header missed the shoulder of Athletic Bilbao’s 29-year-old keeper, but he was unable to put a shot on target after half-time.
Simon has not conceded a goal in an international match since a 2-2 draw with Türkiye in a World Cup qualifier last November.
“This record is also the achievement of all my teammates,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said through an interpreter. “Their togetherness, generosity, hard work, sacrifice. Everyone runs for each other.”
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