Spain beats Austria 3-0 as Unai Simón sets World Cup record

Mikel Oyarzabal scored twice and Unai Simón set a World Cup goalkeeping record as Spain beat Austria 3-0 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, to move into the round of 16. The win was Spain’s first knockout-stage victory at a World Cup since 2010, the year La Roja won the trophy, and it kept their run at four straight clean sheets in this tournament.

Oyarzabal opened the scoring in the 39th minute, Pedro Porro made it 2-0 in the 66th, and Oyarzabal finished the job in the 89th. Marc Cucurella supplied both assists for Oyarzabal and also played a role in Porro’s goal. The result also extended Spain’s unbeaten streak to 34 matches in official competitions inside 90 minutes.

Simón’s night carried its own place in the record book. He reached 519 minutes without conceding in World Cup play, moving past Walter Zenga’s long-standing mark of 517 minutes from 1990. The shutout against Austria was Simón’s fifth consecutive clean sheet in the World Cup, matching Zenga’s tournament record for a goalkeeper. Oyarzabal became the first Spaniard to score in a World Cup knockout match since Andrés Iniesta’s strike in the 2010 final.

Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí became the first pair of teenage starters in a World Cup knockout match for a national team since Pelé and Altafini for Brazil in 1958.

Portugal beat Croatia 2-1 in Toronto. Cristiano Ronaldo converted a penalty for his first knockout-stage goal at a World Cup, and at 41 he became the oldest player to score in that round. Gonçalo Ramos struck the winner in added time after a late VAR review wiped out a potential Croatian equalizer.

Spain and Portugal will meet in Dallas on July 6.