Spain defeated Portugal to come out smiling in the "Iberian Peninsula Derby."
Spain beat Portugal 1-0 in the round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup for North and Central America, played at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday (Korea time).
With the win, Spain advanced to the quarterfinals while extending their clean-sheet streak to five straight matches. It marks the first time in 16 years that Spain have reached the quarterfinals since the 2010 South Africa tournament, which they won.
Spain also extended their unbeaten run against Portugal on the World Cup stage. The two nations first met in the round of 16 at the 2010 South Africa tournament, where Spain won 1-0, and drew 3-3 in the first match of Group B at the 2018 Russia tournament.
Portugal, on the other hand, failed to reach the quarterfinals for the second consecutive tournament. Portugal's "superstar" Cristiano Ronaldo saw his World Cup "last dance" end in the round of 16. Having hinted at his retirement from the World Cup stage at an official press conference the day before, saying, "I'm trying to enjoy the fact that this will be my last World Cup as much as possible," and "I hope tomorrow won't be my last World Cup match, and that, God willing, I'll keep moving forward," the disappointment lingered all the more deeply.
In the ninth minute of the first half, Mikel Oyarzabal received a through pass from Dani Olmo and cut into the left side of the penalty area, attempting a left-footed shot in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, but the ball narrowly missed the right side of Portugal's goal.
Portugal launched a counterattack in the 12th minute, but Cristiano Ronaldo's powerful right-footed shot, after rushing into the right side of the penalty area, was blocked by the Spanish goalkeeper's punch and came to nothing.
The balance between the two teams, which had carried into the second half, was broken only in stoppage time. In the first minute of second-half stoppage time, Ferran Torres delivered a "killer pass" from near the front of the penalty arc, and Merino rushed to the front of the penalty area before scoring the winning goal with a left-footed shot.
With this goal, Spain edged out Portugal and secured a ticket to the quarterfinals.
