European football champion Spain has defeated host South Africa at the Confederations Cup, 2-0, Saturday and with the win broke the world record streak for consecutive international victories.
Brazil, which is also playing in this event, France and Australia had shared the record with Spain with 14 wins in a row. Make it 15 straight now for Spain, which is also is unbeaten in 35 matches, tying the record set by Brazil from December 1993 to January 1996.
Saturday night's game in Bloemfontain was scoreless until a dramatic turn of events in the 51st minute. Spain's David Villa had his penalty kick blocked by the South African goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune, who also stopped a shot off the rebound. But within the next minute, Villa found himself on the end of well-placed, high arching pass and converted a left-footed shot into the right corner of the goal.
Teammate Fernando Llorente scored off a free kick in the 72nd minute to make it 2 goals to nil. Spain had its third win in three group matches for nine points at this Confederations Cup.
The Spaniards had already clinched a semi-final berth, and even with the loss, host South Africa also reached final four from Group A. That's because New Zealand held Iraq to a scoreless draw in the night's other match in Johannesburg.
South Africa finished with four points, Iraq had two and New Zealand one.
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