Jiménez looked up at the sky. Then the tears came.
Not the tears of relief, though relief was certainly in there. Not the tears of a man who has just scored at a World Cup for the first time in four attempts across thirteen years, though that was in there too. These were the tears of someone carrying the kind of weight that a football match — even one on this stage — cannot fully explain. Three months after losing his father. Five and a half years after a surgeon told his family it was a miracle he had survived. Thirty-five years old, at home, at the Azteca, finally.
Raúl Jiménez rose high in the 67th minute of Mexico’s 2-0 opening victory over South Africa and buried a right-footed header into the back of the net. Roberto Alvarado delivered the cross, Jiménez met it at the back post with precision, and the Estadio Azteca — 87,000 people who had been nervously waiting for this exact moment — did what the Azteca does.
It erupted.
Raúl Jiménez scored his first FIFA World Cup goal in the 67th minute against South Africa on June 11, 2026 — his fourth World Cup tournament and seventh World Cup appearance.
Also Read: Mexico vs South Africa Full Match Report
Four World Cups. One Moment.
The number that should frame everything that followed is not 2-0, though the scoreline matters. It is not 67, though the minute matters. The number is four. Four World Cups. 2014, 2018, 2022, and now 2026. Six previous appearances at the tournament — against Brazil, Germany, Poland, Argentina, Saudi Arabia — and not one goal to show for them.
Mexico’s own Raúl Jiménez: scorer of over 45 international goals, third-highest scorer in El Tri’s history behind only Javier Hernández and Jared Borgetti, a man who has run Premier League defences ragged across eight seasons. At the World Cup, goalless. Until Thursday.
There is an explanation for it, and it has nothing to do with talent. Jiménez spent most of his World Cup career as either a squad player or an impact substitute rather than Mexico’s undisputed first choice. He debuted in 2014 as a 23-year-old in a squad led by Hernández. In 2018 he was part of the attacking rotation. In 2022 he was just two years on from emergency brain surgery, doing well simply to be there.
In 2026, he is finally the one Mexico look to when they need the moment. He is the striker Javier Aguirre built the attack around all tournament preparation. And on opening night, on the most famous football stage in his country’s history, he delivered.
Jiménez has scored 45+ international goals for Mexico, making him the third-highest scorer in El Tri history — behind only Javier Hernández (52) and Jared Borgetti (46).
The Collision That Changed Everything
November 29, 2020. Fifth minute. Wolves versus Arsenal at the Emirates.
Jiménez went up for an aerial ball with David Luiz. They clashed heads. The crack was audible. Jiménez dropped immediately, unconscious, and he didn’t get up under his own power. He never would that night. He was stretchered off after ten minutes of pitch-side treatment, taken to hospital by air ambulance, and wheeled into emergency surgery for a fractured skull and a brain bleed that, as his doctors would later tell him directly, he was lucky to survive.
His manager at the time, Nuno Espírito Santo, described the moment in the dressing room when they understood the severity of what had happened. “You start hearing ‘code red,'” Nuno said. “Panic, panic, panic.”
Jiménez spent months in recovery. He wore a protective headguard when he returned to competitive football with Wolves nine months later — a visual reminder every time he stepped onto the pitch of exactly what he had come back from. The challenge of heading the ball again, of winning aerial duels, of doing the exact thing a striker at his level is paid to do — required rebuilding from scratch, physically and psychologically.
The header he scored on Thursday was, in that light, not just a goal. It was a statement about what the recovery actually produced.
Jiménez returned to professional football nine months after emergency skull fracture surgery in November 2020 — doctors described his recovery as miraculous.
The Stage Has Its Own Story
The Azteca is not just a stadium. It is the place where Pelé set up Carlos Alberto for what many still consider the greatest team goal in World Cup history. It is the place where Diego Maradona scored the Hand of God and then, four minutes later, the Goal of the Century. In 1986, it hosted the World Cup final. On Thursday, it hosted the first game of the 2026 edition — becoming the first stadium in history to host three World Cup opening matches.
That context is not decorative. It sits heavily on every Mexican player who walks out onto that pitch with the eyes of the country on them and the weight of every great moment that preceded them hanging in the air. For Jiménez, a man who grew up watching Mexico in World Cups and whose father would not live to see this one, the Azteca was never going to be just another venue.
The goal itself was technically routine for a striker of Jiménez’s quality. Alvarado delivered the cross from the right. Jiménez found space at the back post — something he has been doing in Premier League penalty boxes for a decade. He met it cleanly and directed it into the corner.
What happened next was not routine.
He stood, momentarily, looking up. Not at the crowd. Not at his teammates who were already sprinting toward him. At the sky. And then the tears came, and they did not stop, and the Azteca understood exactly why without needing to be told.
The Estadio Azteca became the first stadium in history to host three FIFA World Cup opening matches, having previously done so in 1970 and 1986.
Also Read: FIFA World Cup 2026
The Match, Briefly
Mexico won 2-0. The first goal came from Julián Quiñones, a finish that settled the Azteca’s nerves enough to remember it was supposed to be enjoying this. The match featured three red cards — two for South Africa, one for Mexico’s César Montes in stoppage time — which made it the first World Cup opening game since 1998 to feature three dismissals. South Africa were reduced to ten men before the hour mark, which made Mexico’s failure to add further goals mildly embarrassing, though not enough to dampen the occasion.
Jiménez was substituted off in the 76th minute, nine minutes after his goal. He walked to the touchline to a standing ovation from 87,000 people. His replacement, Alexis Vega, barely noticed the roar was still going.
The result gives Mexico three points from their opening Group A match. They face South Korea next. The group also includes Czechia.
For the tournament, though, the arithmetic is secondary. What Thursday produced was not a result. It was a story.
The Weight He Carried Out
Jiménez’s father, Raúl Jiménez Vega, died in March 2026. He was one of the most significant figures in his son’s life — the person who shaped the path that eventually led to Wolves, to Fulham, to all of it. Three months later, his son was standing at the Azteca at a home World Cup, looking up at the sky and weeping in front of 87,000 people.
There is a version of this narrative that piles on the sentiment until it collapses under its own weight. This is not that version. The facts are enough: a man nearly lost his life, rebuilt his career from the ground up wearing a protective headband, and then in the most significant match of his country’s generation, did the thing that had been missing from his record across a decade of trying.
Dry observation: football occasionally produces the right story. Usually by accident.
At 35, Jiménez became the oldest player to score Mexico’s first goal in a World Cup opening game.
FAQ
What was Raúl Jiménez’s goal against South Africa at the 2026 World Cup? In the 67th minute of Mexico’s 2-0 opening victory at the Estadio Azteca, Jiménez headed home a cross from Roberto Alvarado at the back post. It was his first-ever World Cup goal across four tournaments and seven appearances. His emotional reaction — looking to the sky in tears — became the defining image of the 2026 World Cup’s opening day.
Why was Jiménez so emotional after scoring? Jiménez was emotional for multiple reasons. He scored his first-ever World Cup goal after failing to find the net in three previous tournaments. He was playing at a home World Cup in front of his country’s crowd at the iconic Azteca. And he was playing without his father, Raúl Jiménez Vega, who died in March 2026 and to whom his celebration was widely understood to be a tribute.
What happened to Raúl Jiménez in 2020? On November 29, 2020, during a Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal, Jiménez clashed heads with defender David Luiz, suffering a fractured skull and a brain bleed that required emergency surgery. Doctors described his survival and recovery as miraculous. He returned to competitive football nine months later, wearing a protective headguard, and has continued to play at the highest level ever since.
Did Mexico win their opening match at the 2026 World Cup? Yes. Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 at the Estadio Azteca on June 11, 2026. Julián Quiñones scored the opener before Jiménez added the second in the 67th minute. The match also featured three red cards — two for South Africa and one for Mexico’s César Montes in stoppage time — making it a chaotic but memorable opening game.
How many goals has Jiménez scored for Mexico? Heading into the 2026 World Cup, Jiménez had scored over 45 international goals for Mexico, making him the third-highest scorer in El Tri history behind Javier Hernández (52) and Jared Borgetti (46).
