Raúl Jiménez scored the goal he had chased across three World Cups, and he did it with the same protective band on his head that has followed him for five years. The Mexico forward met a cross from Roberto Alvarado in the 67th minute against South Africa and sent a header past Ronwen Williams for his first World Cup goal.
The moment mattered because Jiménez, now 35 years old, had already appeared at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups without scoring. This time, in Mexico’s 2026 opener, he delivered the finish that turned a familiar presence into the name on the scoresheet and gave Mexico an early lift in the tournament.
That band is not decoration. It is a medically approved protection fitted for a player who suffered a serious injury on 29 November 2020, when he collided head-to-head with David Luiz during Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League against Arsenal. He lost consciousness, was taken to a hospital in Londres and was later found to have a skull fracture and a potentially life-threatening brain injury. Jiménez returned to the pitch eight months later in August 2021, but the head protection stayed with him, because the damage that forced it into his career never really disappeared from the story around him.
The friction is in how visible the comeback remains. Jiménez wears the band as a sign that he is back, yet it also keeps the worst night of his career in view every time he steps onto the field. That is why his goal against Sudáfrica lands as more than a match winner: it is proof that he can still decide a World Cup game while carrying the memory of what nearly ended his career and life.
Jiménez has said he will keep using the protective band for the rest of his professional career, which means the image that travels with him now is set to last as long as he does. He already has 47 goals for México after the strike against Sudáfrica, and his place in the national team, which began in 2013, now includes the one milestone that had slipped past him in three previous tournaments.
