Overview
Portugal and Spain will create the most notable match of the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup when the two championship contenders face each other in Dallas.
Portugal entered the match after a breathtaking 2-1 victory over Croatia in the round of 32. Coach Roberto Martinez's team had to wait for Goncalo Ramos's goal in injury time to win a ticket to the next round. Cristiano Ronaldo also scored his first goal in his career in the World Cup knockout round.
The victory over Croatia helps Portugal stand before the opportunity to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the fourth time in history and participate in two consecutive quarter-finals for the first time. The last time the "European Selecao" won 2 consecutive knockout matches at the World Cup was in 2006, when they successively defeated the Netherlands and England before stopping in the semi-finals.
On the other side, Spain continued to show stable form when defeating Austria 3-0 thanks to a double by Mikel Oyarzabal and a goal by Pedro Porro.
Notably, La Roja has not conceded a goal after the first 4 matches at the 2026 World Cup. They have become the second European team in history to keep a clean sheet in 4 consecutive matches at the World Cup, after Switzerland in 2006. If they continue to lock down Portugal's attack, Spain will set an unprecedented record with 6 consecutive clean sheets at the World Cup arena, counting from the match against Morocco at the 2022 World Cup.
The form of coach Luis de la Fuente's team is also very impressive. Spain is on a 34-match unbeaten streak in all competitions with 25 wins and 9 draws, only one match away from their record of 35 consecutive unbeaten matches.
Specifically under De la Fuente, Spain is unbeaten in the first 11 matches at major tournaments including the World Cup and EURO, winning 10, drawing one and conceding only 4 goals. If they defeat Portugal, this strategist will equal the achievement of Aime Jacquet and Louis van Gaal when they did not lose in the first 12 matches at major tournaments.
Not only with results, Spain is also superior in professional indicators. They achieve an average expected goal difference (xG) of +1.80 per match, the highest among European teams at the 2026 World Cup and the best achievement since France in 1998.
Meanwhile, Portugal also possesses an effective attack with an average xG of 1.6 per match, their highest in a World Cup since 2014.
Head-to-head record
Portugal and Spain have met five times in major tournaments, with a fairly balanced record when each team won one match, and the remaining 3 matches ended in a draw.
The most recent encounter at the World Cup took place in 2018, when the two teams drew 3-3 in a classic match with Ronaldo's hat-trick. Previously, in the EURO 2012 semi-finals, the two teams drew 0-0 after 120 minutes before Spain won in a penalty shootout.
Score prediction: Portugal 0-1 Spain
The match between Portugal and Spain takes place at 2:00 AM on July 7 (Vietnam time).
