{"id":697619,"date":"2026-07-18T01:17:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/697619\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T01:17:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:17:15","slug":"unbeatables-v-untouchables-spains-run-faces-ultimate-test-in-world-cup-final-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/697619\/","title":{"rendered":"Unbeatables v untouchables? Spain\u2019s run faces ultimate test in World Cup final | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain look unstoppable. Their 2-0 victory against France<\/a> meant they have not lost a game in normal or extra time for 37 matches, which Opta revealed has equalled the best such stretch by a European team. However, Spain did lose the final of the 2025 Nations League to Portugal on penalties<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Their \u201cunbeaten run\u201d matches the efforts of Italy between October 2018 and September 2021, a streak which included Roberto Mancini\u2019s side winning Euro 2020. Unlike Spain<\/a>, Italy were truly unbeaten.<\/p>\n

No team from South America has ever gone as long without defeat. Brazil went 36 matches unbeaten between December 1993 and January 1996, winning a World Cup along the way, while Argentina<\/a> equalled their great rivals from July 2019 to November 2022. The latter\u2019s run might have been ended by a stunning loss to Saudi Arabia in Qatar, but recovering from that to become world champions was an emphatic response.<\/p>\n

For Spain to have reached this point is no surprise when you consider their history. They are responsible for six of the 11 instances of a European nation going unbeaten for at least 25 games. Five of these periods have occurred within the last 22 years, emphasising how dominant Spain have been for the previous two decades.<\/p>\n

They can call upon players with even better records. Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz has represented his country 49 times without suffering a loss (shootouts notwithstanding). Despite the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder proving his elite ability in recent years, Ruiz has not played the most minutes in Spain\u2019s current unbeaten stretch. He\u2019s not even in the top five.<\/p>\n

Chart showing longest unbeaten runs in international football by European nations<\/a><\/p>\n

The leading man has been Marc Cucurella, with Unai Sim\u00f3n, Aymeric Laporte, Lamine Yamal and Mikel Oyarzabal completing the quintet upon which Luis de la Fuente has leant most heavily.<\/p>\n

The Spain manager has used 62 different players in the 37 matches, which highlights the depth of talent his country has produced. Or perhaps it suggests a degree of indecisiveness on De la Fuente\u2019s part? Hardly; of the 15 players who have made at least 20 appearances in the unbeaten run, 10 started the World Cup<\/a> semi-final, four came on as substitutes and Mart\u00edn Zubimendi was an option on the bench.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s 10 most used players in their unbeaten run<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a 1-0 loss to Colombia at the London Stadium in March 2024<\/a> that drew the start line for Spain\u2019s current unbeaten run. The streak inevitably includes victories over Europe\u2019s lesser lights in tournament qualifiers, but also 11 matches against the combined might of Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal.<\/p>\n

Argentina are unbeaten for 14 matches and it is worth noting they were all won. They\u2019ve also lost three times since Spain were last defeated though. The weight of recent history remains firmly on the side of De la Fuente\u2019s men.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain look unstoppable. Their 2-0 victory against France meant they have not lost a game in normal or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-697619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}