Unai Simón Sets World Cup Clean Sheet Record as Spain Defeats Austria 3-0

Spain's Unai Simón had double cause for celebration on Thursday night.

The goalkeeper not only saw his side advance to the round of 16, but he also set a new Guinness World Record for the longest World Cup clean sheet streak after Spain comfortably beat Austria 3-0 in Los Angeles.

Simón has now gone 519 minutes without conceding a goal for La Roja, breaking the previous record of 518 minutes, which was set by Italian keeper Walter Zenga in 1990. Zenga's run was finally ended by a second-half goal from Argentina's Claudio Caniggia in the semifinal of Italia '90.

Simón, who plays his club football for La Liga side Athletic Bilbao, has kept clean sheets against Austria, Cape Verde, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia at the 2026 World Cup.

Those were added to the 120 minutes he picked up against Morocco at Qatar 2022 - Spain eventually lost the game on penalties - and the final 39 minutes of a group-stage loss to Japan at the same tournament.

Spain suffered no such difficulties in Thursday's victory over Austria, however.

Luis de la Fuente's team brushed Austria aside with a convincing display spearheaded by Real Sociedad forward Mikel Oyarzabal.

Oyarzabal opened the scoring late in the first half, sweeping in a low cross from left-back Marc Cucurella.

Tottenham Hotspur's Pedro Porro headed home to make it 2-0 in the 66th minute before Oyarzabal killed the game off with a cool finish from another Cucurella pass on 89 minutes.

Spain looked threatening almost every time they went forward, and they could easily have scored more were it not for some fine saves from Austrian shot stopper Alexander Schlager.

Spain's victory now sets up a tantalising fixture against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in Dallas on Monday. Portugal beat Croatia 2-1 in the round of 32.