<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain booked their place in the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Portugal, while also creating history by setting a new world record for the most consecutive clean sheets by a men’s team in World Cup history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Round of 16 triumph over Portugal marked Spain’s sixth successive World Cup match without conceding a goal, surpassing the previous record of five consecutive clean sheets jointly held by Italy, achieved during the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and Switzerland, whose run stretched across the 2006 and 2010 tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spanish goalkeeper Unai Sim\u00f3n has now gone 609 consecutive World Cup minutes without being beaten by an opposition player. Spain’s remarkable defensive discipline, combined with Sim\u00f3n’s outstanding performances between the posts, has been the cornerstone of this historic achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain’s clean-sheet streak began during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in their Round of 16 encounter against Morocco. That match ended in a goalless draw after both regulation time and extra time, with Morocco advancing on penalties. Since goals scored in penalty shootouts are not counted as part of the official match result, the fixture is officially recorded as a clean sheet for Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Spanish side carried that defensive solidity into the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Their campaign began with a 0-0 draw against Cape Verde before they defeated Saudi Arabia 4-0 and edged Uruguay 1-0 in the group stage. Spain then produced a commanding 3-0 victory over Austria in the Round of 32 to register their fifth consecutive clean sheet. The subsequent 1-0 win over Portugal extended the run to six straight clean sheets, establishing a new all-time World Cup record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The achievement also makes Spain the first men’s team in World Cup history to keep clean sheets in each of its opening five matches of a single tournament. Their exceptional defensive organisation, tactical discipline, and consistency have made them one of the strongest contenders for the world title as they advance to the quarter-finals with growing confidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spain booked their place in the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Portugal, while also creating history by setting a new world record for the most consecutive clean sheets by a men’s team in World Cup history. The Round of 16 triumph over Portugal marked Spain’s sixth successive World…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[365],"class_list":["post-8847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-portugalspain-reach-fifa-world-cup-quarter-finals-after-1-0-win-over-portugal"],"yoast_head":"\n