EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — After cruising through the World Cup barely allowing any goals, Spain won the final hardly allowing a shot.
How good was this Spain defense? Take it from their goalkeeper.
”(My hands) didn’t really have to work that hard as much as other keepers,” Unai Simón said through an interpreter.
Spain’s 1-0 victory over Argentina on Sunday was its record seventh shutout of the World Cup. The Spaniards allowed just one goal and in the final
permitted just two shots, neither on net.
Spain’s 2010 championship team shared the previous record of two goals allowed in a World Cup with two other teams. Iker Casillas, the goalkeeper of the country's first World Cup champions, watched in MetLife Stadium seated with 2010 teammates Xavier Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Carles Puyol and Sergio Ramos.
This squad allowed only Belgium to score in a 2-1 quarterfinals victory, then blanked teams featuring Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi, the two leading scorers in World Cup history, in victories over France and Argentina to win it.
Messi’s squad was outshot 20-2, finally getting a shot in extra time.
Simón won the Golden Glove as the tournament’s top goalkeeper, though needed to make only 14 saves. Argentina's Emiliano Martinez nearly had to make that many Sunday alone, finishing with a record 11.
“If all of the gloves were able to speak that I have used throughout the entire tournament, what I think is that, at the end of the day, what they would be able to tell you, is that they didn’t have to really work as hard as other keepers," Simón said.
"I think that this is due to all of my teammates, for us to have been able to have all of these wins.”
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AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.
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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
