Raul Jimenez is back on a World Cup field leading Mexico’s line, a role that once seemed impossible after a fractured skull nearly took his life in 2020. Mexico’s opening match against South Africa at the Mexico City Stadium put him at the center of the tournament curtain-raiser, with the striker again carrying the hopes of a team built around his return.
Jimenez, who has 126 caps and 45 goals for Mexico, said it was a miracle to be there and to be playing again after surgery in London saved his life. The injury came while he was representing Wolverhampton Wanderers against Arsenal, when a clash left him with bleeding inside the brain and surgeons at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington working quickly to relieve the pressure. He said the bone broke and there was a little bit of bleeding inside the brain, adding that the surgery had to be quick because it was pushing his brain to the inside.
That he is leading Mexico now matters because this was not just a bad collision. Jimenez was 29 at the time, had been thriving in English football, and had been linked with Manchester United and Barcelona before the break in his career. For a striker who had become a regular scorer in the Premier League and for his country, the comeback has been about more than fitness. It has been about getting back to the level he had reached before the injury, and doing it in the most demanding setting of all.
The people around him have never forgotten how close he came to dying. Conor Coady, who was involved in the incident, said he kept Jimenez lying on his side before medical staff arrived, and recalled seeing that his eyes were shut and there was blood running from his nose. Mexico coach Nuno Espirito Santo said there are things you can put away from your memories, but that moment would stay forever. Jimenez replied to the chaos 24 hours after surgery with a message in the team WhatsApp chat saying he was OK and being looked after, then visited the squad two weeks later at the training ground.
That is why his return still lands with such force. He should not really even be on the pitch after what happened in 2020, yet he is now leading Mexico at a World Cup and doing it in a side that still leans on him. The unanswered question is not whether he can play one more match; it is how long he can keep doing so at the level he has already forced himself back to.
