The countdown to the 2026 World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world’s biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year’s global event.
Any manager at the World Cup would be happy to not allow a single goal during the tournament. A strong defense is something you need as you face top competition from around the world.
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Compiling nothing but clean sheets in a World Cup is a good way to have a strong showing in the competition, but as Switzerland showed in 2006 your offense still needs to chip in.
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After drawing France 0-0 in their opening game, the Swiss then beat Togo and South Korea with a pair of 2-0 victories. That put them atop the group with seven points and three clean sheets. In the Round of 16 they would face Ukraine, which finished second in its group and allowed four goals three matches.
Both sides were hungry on offense with the Swiss taking 14 shot attempts and 5 shots on goal, while Ukraine put 18 shots toward goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbühler’s net. But Zuberbühler and Ukraine goalie Oleksandr Shovkovskyi did their jobs through 90 minutes and extra time to force the game to be decided by penalty kicks.
2026 World Cup countdown: 100 days of facts, stats and stories (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
(Grant Thomas)
Switzerland’s PK takers were unsuccessful on their three attempts and Ukraine scored on three of their four to move on.
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The result gave the Swiss the title of being the only team to not concede a single goal during a World Cup. Unfortunately, they couldn’t boast any success outside of the group stage despite the strong defensive showing.
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