FIFA World Cup 2026 | Spain's defensive masterclass continues

CHENNAI: Spain’s defensive masterclass continues at the FIFA 2026 World Cup, as the European champions become the first side in World Cup history to record six clean sheets in a single edition. Luis de la Fuente’s men have been a defensive rock in the ongoing World Cup edition, allowing just one goal, which came in the quarterfinal 2-1 win against Belgium, which ended Unai Simón’s tally of 650 consecutive minutes without conceding.

While Simon, the Golden Glove frontrunner by a mile, deserves all the credit, he couldn’t have possibly done it without a rock-solid centre-back pairing in front — Aymeric Laporte and Pau Cubarsi. Simon has been the best goalkeeper in the tournament, and his ability to be a sweeper-keeper was on display in Spain’s win over France, stopping Kylian Mbappe twice in his tracks.

Cubarsi’s tale is pretty impressive, considering he’s just 19 and has already shown his range as a ball-progressing defender. None in World Cup history has recorded six clean sheets in a quicker time than Cubarsi. It isn’t just that; he has made 90 successful passes into the opposition box and has been first to a lot of second balls in the tournament, with 96.5% passing accuracy.

On Wednesday, his task was cut out against Mbappe, one of the greatest the World Cup has seen, and he didn’t disappoint one bit, making his presence felt and forcing turnovers in a positional masterclass for Spain. On the other side is Laporte, the defender with much more flair, and against his nation of birth, delivered another sizzling performance.

Until he was 21, Laporte was the leader of the French age-group side and was also part of the Les Bleus setup in 2016-17, but failed to get any playing time. Things could have been very different for the defender if he had been fully fit during the Euro 2020 qualifiers, as he would have been playing for France now. However, an injury forced him to miss the qualifiers, and in 2021, he became eligible to represent Spain.

Now, at 32, Laporte is one of the most experienced defenders in this setup and was at his best against the pacy trio of Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise, and Mbappe. The left-footed centre-back has now made over 50 appearances for Spain, showing why this side trusts him so much at the back. The last time Spain had such a solid centre-back pairing, it lifted the coveted trophy in 2010.