Spain sets record with sixth clean sheet in a row

ARLINGTON, Texas— Spain broke a World Cup record with its sixth consecutive clean sheet and goalkeeper Unai Simón prolonged his record for the tournament’s longest scoreless streak to 609 minutes in Monday’s 1-0 win over Portugal.

Spain broke a tie with Italy (1990) and Switzerland (2006-10) for probably the most consecutive World Cup matches without allowing a goal. Spain’s streak began with a 0-0 draw within the round of 16 in 2022, when Morocco advanced after a penalty shootout.

There was also a surprising scoreless draw against Cape Verde to open group play on this tournament, followed by 4 consecutive shutout victories to advance to the quarterfinals.

Simón surpassed the previous record of 517 consecutive scoreless minutes during a 3-0 blanking of Austria to open the knockout round Thursday. Famed Italy goalkeeper Walter Zenga set the usual in 1990 with five consecutive clean sheets in his home World Cup.

Simón’s shutout streak began in 2022 in Qatar when he entered a 2-1 loss to Japan in a bunch play finale.

He got here into the Portugal game having made only 4 saves on this World Cup — Austria had no shots on track — and on Monday at the house of the Dallas Cowboys, Simón needed to make two saves in the primary half against Portugal, each on shots by Cristiano Ronaldo.

The second of those saves was a formidable diving stop, when he was still in midair after reaching back to grab the ball with each hands. Ronaldo took that shot after teammate João Félix’s header went off the shoulder of the 29-year-old Athletic Bilbao keeper, who didn’t face a shot on track after halftime.

Simón hasn’t surrendered a goal in international play since a 2-2 draw with Turkey in a World Cup qualifier last November.

“This record is the results of all of his teammates as well,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said in translated remarks. “Their solidarity, their generosity, their effort, their sacrifice. Everybody runs for each other.”