The World Cup’s marquee forwards have commanded much of the attention this summer, but Spain’s defensive unit is emerging as the tournament’s most remarkable story.
Luis de la Fuente’s disciplined La Roja side booked their place in the quarterfinals by grinding out a tense victory over Iberian rivals Portugal at Dallas Stadium, with substitute Mikel Merino scoring the decisive goal in the opening minute of stoppage time.
Spain’s outstanding backline, which had faced only three shots on target before Monday’s match, has now gone five games without conceding. They advance to face either the USA or Belgium while riding a record streak of six consecutive clean sheets at this storied competition.
On a night defined by limited chances and tactical caution, Cristiano Ronaldo’s final appearance on the World Cup stage ended in heartbreak. Sporting legends seldom depart at the perfect moment, and this felt like another painful example.
Portugal’s once-dominant talisman managed just 19 touches across 96 minutes, comfortably the lowest total of any starting player, before breaking down in tears as elimination ended his pursuit of the one major prize still missing from his extraordinary career — and the biggest of them all.
After Goncalo Ramos struck a dramatic winner against Croatia in the last 32, Portugal coach Roberto Martinez faced a difficult call at the tip of his attack: turn to the sharper, in-form striker who entered Monday averaging a goal or assist every 37 minutes at World Cups, or remain loyal to Portugal’s captain and national icon for what may have been his final ride in Texas.
Mikel Merino’s stoppage-time goal gave Spain a 1-0 win over Portugal in the World Cup last 16
Cristiano Ronaldo was in tears after the final whistle as his World Cup dream came to an end
While the former option probably made most logical sense, he avoided the daunting task of having to tell Ronaldo he would not be starting his potential last ever World Cup match. The 41-year-old kept his place despite the pressure on Martinez to swap him out for Ramos, 25.
In the end, it proved the wrong decision as Ronaldo went largely anonymous once more – while Ramos failed to even make it off the bench – before Merino came up with the game-winning goal at the death.
Ronaldo’s miserable ending
Prior to the second-half hydration break, Ronaldo had failed to get on the end of a menacing cross from Pedro Neto, the kind he would have swept home 10 years ago, before sending a feeble attempt at a volley straight into Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon’s hands. He laughed to himself afterwards almost in embarrassment at his diminishing quality.
And when the two teams stopped for some fluids, Portugal’s veteran captain was the only player who needed to sit down on a water cooler. You can hardly blame him at his age.
Ronaldo still looks the part despite now being a 41-year-old man. The remarkable physique and slick hair remain, yet as soon as he begins to move around on the pitch it quickly becomes evident that his previous powers are no longer there.
How Martinez can seriously justify leaving out Ramos, the hero of last week’s dramatic victory over Croatia who has just been snapped up by AC Milan for $80million, to accommodate him upfront is a mystery if not a farce.
Ronaldo looked a shadow of his former self as he departed on the most miserable of lows
Ronaldo had touched the ball 12 times by the interval and only added another seven in the second half. Mikel Oyarzabal, who had the second-fewest, registered 35 touches in comparison.
It feels harsh to point out given everything he’s achieved in the game, but Portugal were almost operating with a man less.
While inexplicably leaving Ramos on the bench, Portugal desperately chased an unlikely leveler after Merino’s winner. Yet it was too little too late and their World Cup campaign slumped to a miserable end.
An emotional Ronaldo, who bids farewell to a competition that provides the only blotch on his CV after never even making it to the final, was in tears at full-time after his fate was sealed.
‘I’m sad to leave the World Cup this way,’ he said after the loss. ‘As I said yesterday, I gave it my all, and I leave with a clear conscience. That’s the life of a footballer. You have to move forward.
‘It was my last World Cup, yes. But as for the rest, there’s time to think, to be with my family, and not say things in the heat of the moment.’
‘I’ve given my all. I’ve won three titles with Portugal,’ Ronaldo added. ‘The 2016 [Euros] title is on the same level as a World Cup.’
Chalk and cheese
Less than 24 hours after England and Mexico played out an all-time classic over in Mexico City, Portugal and Spain offered up a much less memorable 90-plus minutes here.
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This was always going to be a tactical battle of attrition between two managers with a love for possession-based football, and it proved exactly that for the majority. Up until the first hydration break, both goalkeepers were only seriously tested once each.
It was by no means a classic at Dallas Stadium as the two teams played out a real chess match
Oyarzabal should have at least drawn a save out of Portugal keeper Diogo Costa in the eighth minute. The Real Sociedad striker has been in solid form this summer, scoring four in four before this last-16 clash, yet after being released through on goal by Dani Olmo with just Costa to beat he dragged his shot wide of the post.
Four minutes later, the once-great Ronaldo officially joined the party with one of his only involvements in an otherwise tame first half, producing a trademark stepover before firing an effort straight at Spain keeper Simon.
The chess match became a slightly more adventurous one for a little while after the first hydration break. Portugal came closest to finding the opener in the 37th minute, when Joao Felix pulled a header back across goal and, after the ball deflected off Simon, Ronaldo forced Simon into an acrobatic save when he tried to turn it home.
Shortly before half-time, Portugal defender Nuno Mendes rattled the woodwork with a long-range effort which Pedro Porro got a head to, the Tottenham right-back’s vital intervention sending it crashing against the bar.
The second half opened in similar fashion to the first, with very few chances for either team before they paused to rehydrate at the domed, climate-controlled home of the Dallas Cowboys. That’s how FIFA are still selling it, anyway.
Nevertheless, up until Merino swept home the winner in stoppage time, this was a drab affair that won’t be remembered for days to come, let alone years. Although La Roja will not care one bit.
History for Spain
When they made it to the 41st minute with their clean sheet intact, Spain set the record for most consecutive World Cup minutes without conceding a goal, surpassing a Switzerland team who shut out the opposition for 559 minutes across the 1994, 2006 and 2010 tournaments.
They then went even further by banking their sixth consecutive clean sheet, having also been held to a 0-0 draw by Morocco before crashing out of the 2022 World Cup on penalties. No team in history has managed this feat.
Spain have kept a record six consecutive clean sheets at the World Cup after another shutout
With Rodri sweeping up in front of the formidable Aymeric Laporte and Pau Cubarsi, and with Pedro Porro and Marc Cucurella patrolling the flanks, De la Fuente’s defensive unit is impregnable right now.
Simon, who is De la Fuente’s preferred man in goal over Arsenal’s David Raya and Barcelona’s Joan Garcia, only had three saves to make here. It means in their five matches, Spain have only conceded six shots on goal.
For all of the attacking beauty at this summer’s tournament, La Roja’s defense is just as worthy of the plaudits, and it could take them all the way in New Jersey this month.
Yamal’s frustrating night
Many will point to his age and miles on the clock as a reason for Ronaldo’s increasing lack of influence on the pitch. Yet down the other end, Spanish wonderkid Yamal, who only turns 19 next week, was equally quiet early on.
La Roja’s most fearsome forward had a poor start and was uncharacteristically sloppy in possession, though his only real opening came directly after he gifted the ball to Bruno Fernandes inside Spain’s half in the 16th minute.
When Spain won it back, Yamal soon hurtled towards the Portugal box down the other end, cut past a defender in the box and pulled the trigger, only to be denied by Costa. From the rebound, Alex Baena’s curling effort forced a much more dramatic save.
Lamine Yamal did not have the most effective of games over on the right-hand side for Spain
Yamal was beginning to have more joy on the right of Luis de la Fuente’s frontline as the second half continued. Paris St-Germain’s Mendes, who had been doing well to stifle the teenage sensation, was forced off with an injury just before the hour mark and replaced by 32-year-old Nelson Semedo of Fenerbahce.
Up against a man almost twice his age, a Yamal with more time and space suddenly looked a danger once again.
The Barcelona wonderkid was not needed for the all-important winner, however. Instead it was the combination of two substitutes, Ferran Torres and Merino, which booked Spain’s place in the quarterfinals.
Torres first received the ball from Rodri and turned, before releasing the Arsenal star into the box as Ruben Dias frantically raced out to close him down. Merino was free to run through and slip the ball past Costa, sparking euphoric scenes on the Spanish bench.
While the team got the job done against tough opposition, and kept yet another clean sheet in the process, Yamal will hope to have a more effective outing in the last eight after extending his scoreless run to three games.
