SouthernWorldwide.com – Spain’s remarkable defensive record at the World Cup has come to an end.
Goalkeeper Unai Simon’s formidable streak of clean sheets, which had stood for a record 650 minutes, was finally broken by Belgium in a quarterfinal match on Friday.
The breakthrough came in the 41st minute when Charles De Ketelaere managed to get ahead of Pau Cubarsi. He then headed home a cross delivered by Timothy Castagne, leveling the score at 1-1.
This goal marked Belgium as the first team to breach Spain’s defense in the current World Cup. It also put an end to La Roja’s impressive tournament record of six consecutive matches without conceding a goal.
Spain’s shutout streak had commenced in the round of 16 at the 2022 tournament, where they played to a 0-0 draw against Morocco before being eliminated in a penalty shootout. Earlier in the current competition, they experienced an unexpected scoreless draw against Cape Verde to kick off their group stage campaign. This was followed by four successive victories where they kept their opponents scoreless, securing their passage to the quarterfinals.
Simon had surpassed the previous record of 517 consecutive scoreless minutes during a dominant 3-0 victory over Austria in the opening knockout round. The prior benchmark was set by Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga in 1990, who achieved five consecutive clean sheets during his home World Cup.
Simon’s impressive run of not conceding began in Qatar in 2022. This streak started after he came on as a substitute in a group stage match against Japan, which Spain ultimately lost 2-1.
In the first half of Friday’s quarterfinal clash, the 29-year-old goalkeeper faced a relatively light workload, having only to deal with two shots from the opposition.
