2026 World Cup Key News Central News Agency (Inglewood, California, July 2) (CNA, Los Angeles, July 2) Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simón set a new World Cup record for the longest consecutive streak without conceding a goal today. In today's Round of 16 match against Austria, he kept a clean sheet in a 3-0 victory, going unbeaten for four consecutive World Cup matches and breaking a 36-year-old record. According to the Associated Press, 29-year-old Simón (Unai Simón) has gone 519 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal in the past two World Cups, successfully breaking the 517-minute clean sheet record set by Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga in 1990; Zenga's record of five consecutive clean sheets remains unbroken. Simón is the starting goalkeeper for La Liga club Athletic Bilbao. Although he is not the most famous goalkeeper in this tournament, nor the most prominent one within the Spanish team, his steady performance has made him an important pillar of Spain's strong defense and has written his name into World Cup history. Since the start of this World Cup, Spain has not conceded a goal. Simón has only made 4 saves in 4 matches, and did not even need to make a save in the match against Austria, as their 5 shots were off target. Spain's head coach Luis de la Fuente said, "I am proud of him, he is like family to me, and I am truly happy for him." For more than the past 5 years, despite competition from Premier League champion goalkeeper David Raya and La Liga newcomer Joan Garcia, Simón has consistently held the position of Spain's number one goalkeeper. Under de la Fuente's leadership, Spain has only lost 1 match in 37 official games, remaining unbeaten in the last 35 matches, including a penalty shootout loss to Portugal in the 2025 UEFA Nations League final. During Simón's tenure in goal, Spain consecutively won the 2023 UEFA Nations League title and the 2024 European Championship (Euro 2024), and now has achieved their first World Cup knockout stage victory in 16