Raúl Jiménez has played in four World Cups. He’d scored in exactly zero of them. Until now.
The 35-year-old Mexican striker netted his first-ever World Cup goal on June 11, 2026, during Mexico’s opening match against South Africa at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. For a player with 45 international goals across 124 caps, the fact that none had come on football’s grandest stage was one of those stats that felt almost cruel. That particular drought is officially over.
A long time coming
His first tournament came in 2014 in Brazil. Then Russia in 2018. Then Qatar in 2022. Three separate cracks at the biggest competition in global sport, and the ball simply refused to cross the line for him.
The reaction was visibly emotional. Reports indicate the intensity of his celebration was tied, at least in part, to personal loss. Jiménez’s father passed away in recent times, and the weight of that grief appeared to pour out in real time on the pitch.
