Spain carries a perfect defensive record into Friday’s World Cup quarterfinal against Belgium at SoFi Stadium, still unbeaten in the tournament and still without a goal conceded. Belgium arrives with its own momentum after a 4-1 win over the cohost United States on Monday, setting up a meeting between two teams that have not lost in this World Cup and know the winner keeps moving deeper into the bracket.
The matchup is drawing attention because Spain’s run has been built on control and control alone. The Spaniards have gone 36 consecutive official matches without a loss since March 2023, the kind of stretch that turns every outing into a test of whether anyone can finally break them. In this World Cup, they have not allowed a goal, and Unai Simón has gone 609 consecutive World Cup minutes without conceding, with six straight clean sheets dating back to the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
That is why Spain enters as the clearer favorite. It has been the most consistent winner in Europe over the last three and a half years, and its defense has been the steady part of a team that has occasionally struggled to score over the last month. Belgium, though, is not walking in empty-handed. Its victory over the United States stretched an unbeaten run to 18 matches in all competitions, a number that gives Thibaut Courtois reason to believe the Diablos Rojos are still in the fight.
Courtois did not try to sell Belgium as the favorite. He said Spain is one of the sides most likely to win the tournament and that Belgium does not begin the match in that position. He also said the opportunity is there after Monday’s win, and that football leaves room for an upset even with full respect for Spain. That is the friction inside this quarterfinal: Spain has the cleaner tournament and the longer run, but Belgium has a streak of its own and a goalkeeper willing to say the gap is not the whole story.
Spain’s clean sheet record and its unbeaten run make it the benchmark in this quarter of the World Cup, but Belgium’s form means the result is not written yet. If Courtois is right, the contest at SoFi Stadium will be decided not by reputation, but by whether Belgium can turn its recent surge into the one performance Spain has not yet allowed.
