Raúl Jiménez scores first World Cup goal for Mexico in 2026

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.

Mexico’s home tournament pressure

Mexico is one of three countries hosting the expanded 2026 FIFA World Cup, alongside the United States and Canada. This is the first time the tournament features 48 teams instead of the traditional 32.

For Mexico, the opening match at Estadio Azteca wasn’t just another group stage fixture. The country has historically struggled to advance past the Round of 16, a pattern so consistent it’s earned its own nickname among Mexican football fans. Playing on home soil, in a stadium that holds roughly 87,000 people and carries decades of footballing mythology, the pressure to break that cycle is enormous.

What Jiménez’s form tells us

Jiménez arrived at the 2026 tournament off the back of a strong Premier League season with Fulham. After suffering a horrific skull fracture while playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers back in 2020, there were legitimate questions about whether Jiménez would ever return to top-level football at all. The fact that he’s still competing at the highest level six years later, scoring in a World Cup at age 35, reflects a remarkable recovery.

With 45 goals in 124 international appearances, Jiménez sits third on Mexico’s all-time scoring list. The absence of a World Cup goal had become a glaring asterisk on an otherwise stellar international career. That asterisk is now gone.

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