Belgium’s Charles De Ketelaere (17) scores their opening goal past Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon (23) in the course of the World Cup quarterfinal football match between Spain and Belgium in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
INGLEWOOD, California — Unai Simón’s impenetrable wall finally crumbled on the World Cup.
The Spain goalkeeper had kept a clean sheet for a record 650 minutes — the tournament’s longest scoreless streak — before Belgium ended it within the quarterfinals on Friday.
Charles De Ketelaere got in front of Pau Cubarsi to go in Timothy Castagne’s cross within the forty first minute, making the rating 1-1. Spain won 2-1 to advance to the semifinals next Tuesday against France.
Belgium became the primary team to attain against La Roja at this 12 months’s World Cup, snapping their tournament record of six consecutive clean sheets.
READ: World Cup: Spain sets record with sixth clean sheet in a row
Spain’s streak began with a 0-0 draw within the round of 16 on the last tournament in 2022, when Morocco advanced after a penalty shootout. There was also a surprising scoreless draw against Cape Verde to open group play this 12 months, followed by 4 consecutive shutout victories to advance to the quarterfinals.
Simón broke the previous record of 517 consecutive scoreless minutes during a 3-0 win over Austria to open the knockout round. Italy goalkeeper Walter Zenga set the previous mark in 1990 with five consecutive clean sheets at his home World Cup.
The 29-year-old Simón’s shutout streak began in 2022 in Qatar when he entered a 2-1 loss to Japan in group play.
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