There are comebacks in football and then there are comebacks in football. Raul Jimenez scoring for Mexico at the World Cup falls very firmly into the second category, and if you watched him cry after that goal then you probably had something in your eye too. No shame in it whatsoever.
Cast your mind back to November 2020. Jimenez was playing for Wolves against Arsenal when he suffered a fractured skull in a collision with David Luiz. He was taken off the pitch on a stretcher and rushed to hospital. There were genuinely frightening hours where people were not sure he was going to be okay. That is not hyperbole. That is just what happened.
The fact that he returned to professional football at all was impressive enough. The fact that he kept playing at the top level, kept leading the line, kept putting himself about in the way strikers have to do, showed a level of mental strength that most people simply would not have. You have to be a different kind of tough to head a football again after what he went through.
And now here he is, scoring at a World Cup for his country. Mexico fans absolutely adore him and honestly it is not hard to see why. He represents something beyond just goals and assists. He is living proof that sport can throw the worst possible thing at you and you can still come out the other side with something worth celebrating.
From a football perspective he has always been a quality centre forward. Good in the air, strong, decent link-up play, and someone who knows where the goal is. Wolves fans will tell you exactly how good he was during his best years at Molineux. He was genuinely one of the better strikers in the Premier League at his peak.
Seeing him in tears after scoring for Mexico is one of those moments that even the most cold-hearted football fan should be able to appreciate. Football gives you these stories every now and then and you have to stop and enjoy them when they arrive.
Let me know your thoughts.