Spain claimed a world record fifteenth consecutive victory Saturday by defeating South Africa 2-0 in a Confederations Cup Group A match.
The Euro 2008 champions overtook a 14-victory mark set by Australia between 1996 and 1997 and equalled by Brazil in 1997 and France during 2003 and 2004, according to FIFA statistics.
Spain began the record run by outplaying Russia 3-0 in a Euro 2008 semi-final in Austria and won the trophy with a 1-0 victory over Germany three days later.
Turkey twice came close to ending the winning streak within four days last March and April, losing 1-0 away and 2-1 at home with Liverpool midfielder Albert Riera snatching a stoppage-time winner in the away game.
A team that boasts the elite of European champions Barcelona and Real Madrid, plus English Premiership stars like Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas, also had close calls at home to Bosnia and away to Belgium.
But other teams were not so lucky with Azerbaijan hit for six at home in a warm-up for the Confederations Cup in South Africa, where Spain began their mini-league campaign with a 5-0 thrashing of New Zealand.
And the Spaniards have not finished chasing records yet – if they dodge defeat in a Confederations Cup semi-final next Wednesday they will extend an unbeaten run to 36 matches and overtake Brazil.
Greg Russell
Roar Guru
This new record by Spain assumes rather a different light when one learns that they were taking over from ... Australia? I mean, I love the Socceroos to bits, but it's not hard to spot the odd man out in Spain 2008-9 and "Australia between 1996 and 1997 and equalled by Brazil in 1997 and France during 2003 and 2004" Presumably Australia's run in 1996-7 mostly (totally?) involved WC qualifiers against the mighty nations of Oceania. As I said, the fact that this is possible puts rather a different light on this sort of record.