On Friday, July 9, goalkeeper Unai Simón, current record holder for minutes without conceding goals in World Cups, will compete for a place in the semi-final with Spain against Belgium. Despite being 29 years old, the number 23 of the Spanish team revealed that this World Cup could be the last of his career.
In an interview with the newspaper As, Simón expressed his uncertainty about participating in the next World Cup, which will be hosted in Spain in 2030, when he would be 33 years old. “I don’t think I’ll be able to play in the World Cup in Spain (in 2030). Because of my age and because I know when to end cycles. The World Cup in Spain is in four years, I don’t know what could happen. But that’s what I can say now,” he said. The statement is surprising, as many goalkeepers usually play at a high level until older ages.
Spain’s starter since the 2022 World Cup, Simón only conceded goals in the group stage of that edition, remaining unbeaten since then.
Currently, he has 609 unbeaten minutes, surpassing the previous record of Italian Walter Zenga, who had remained 517 minutes without a leak in the 1990 World Cup.
Simón had already expressed in previous interviews that he could not confirm whether this would be his last participation in the World Cup, but that he would enjoy it intensely.
He added that the decision does not worry him excessively, viewing the trajectory as a sequence of events: “I also don’t think it’s something that worries me too much. It will be a sequence of events. We have this World Cup, the Nations League, the European Championship, another Nations League… we’ll see. Four years seems like a long time to think about it or give a definitive answer.”
After being eliminated in the round of 16 in 2022, the Spanish team is now looking to return to a semi-final, a feat it has not achieved since the 2010 World Cup title.
The goalkeeper highlighted that the victory over Portugal in the round of 16 had a special flavor, given the rematch against the team that previously eliminated them in the Nations League and the early elimination in the last World Cup. The team is now looking to go further.
He stated: “The game against Portugal was a turning point, due to the record we had in the Nations (which Portugal won on penalties) and the last World Cup, in which we fell in the round of 16. I, personally, didn’t know what it was like to reach the quarter-finals. We have to continue dealing with each game differently, thinking that they are finals. It will be like that against Belgium.”
If Spain beat Belgium on Friday, their next opponent in the semi-final will be the winner of the clash between France and Morocco.
