By STEPHEN HAWKINS<\/p>\n
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) \u2014 Spain broke a World Cup record<\/a> with its sixth consecutive clean sheet and goalkeeper Unai Sim\u00f3n extended his record shutout streak to 609 minutes in Monday\u2019s 1-0 win over Portugal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Spain broke a tie with Italy (1990) and Switzerland (2006-10) for the most consecutive World Cup matches without allowing a goal. Spain\u2019s streak began with a 0-0 draw in the round of 16 in 2022, when Morocco advanced after a penalty shootout.<\/p>\n There was also a surprising scoreless draw against Cape Verde<\/a> to open group play in this tournament, followed by four consecutive shutout victories to advance to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n Sim\u00f3n surpassed the previous record<\/a> of 517 consecutive scoreless minutes during a 3-0 blanking of Austria<\/a> to open the knockout round Thursday. Famed Italy goalkeeper Walter Zenga set the standard in 1990 with five consecutive clean sheets in his home World Cup.<\/p>\n Sim\u00f3n\u2019s shutout streak started in 2022 in Qatar during a 2-1 loss to Japan to wrap up group play. <\/p>\n He came into the Portugal game having made only four saves in this World Cup \u2014 Austria had no shots on target \u2014 and on Monday in at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, Sim\u00f3n had to make two saves in the first half against Portugal, both on shots by Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a>.<\/p>\n The second of those saves was an impressive diving stop<\/a>, when he was still in midair after reaching back to grab the ball with both hands. Ronaldo took that shot after teammate Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix\u2019s header went off the shoulder of the 29-year-old Athletic Bilbao keeper.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n