As they ready themselves for their Concacaf Nations League semifinal against Canada on Thursday night (10:30 p.m. ET on Paramount+), Mexico are deep in the heart of a debate any national side would want to have. Raul Jimenez or Santiago Gimenez, if not both, which of their star forwards should Javier Aguirre trust to lead the line for El Tri?
It is at this point that we note the unimaginability of Jimenez, now 33, being in the frame to start big matches for his national side four years ago, when he was in the early stages of recovering from the skull fracture he suffered in horrifying fashion when colliding with David Luiz as a Wolves player in November 2020. Much more recently than that, however, the idea that Gimenez, pulling up so many trees with Feyenoord that he has since earned a move to AC Milan, might still be vying for minutes with Jimenez in 2025 seemed scarcely credible.
After all, it rather looked like the triumph for Jimenez would simply be getting back on the football pitch. He had made his return at Molineux but looked like a shadow of the player he had been before the injury. When his time at Fulham started slowly, it seemed clear that the forward who terrorized defenses on Wolves’ promotion to the Premier League would be seen no more.
Not so. As Jimenez himself put it earlier this season, he just needed more time.
“I came back a year after [the injury],” he told Sky Sports in December, “but I think I came back to my best version not too long ago.”
That best version of Jimenez is still asking all the right questions of some of Europe’s best defenders. The veteran joined up with his compatriots this month as one of just 13 players to have reached double figures of goals in the top flight this season, Fulham’s faith in him emphatically rewarded in a season where his goals might legitimately fire them to the European places.
This is not the story of a middling forward hitting a streak of form and fortune either. Per Wyscout, he has put up a combined 14.03 expected goals and expected assists, the ninth-best tally in the Premier League this season. That eclipses some of the most talked about stars of recent months, a better underlying output than Matheus Cunha or even Chris Wood.
Just like before his injury, Fulham’s No. 7 is effective in build-up and link play with his back to goal but in Marco Silva’s front-footed side, Jimenez gets shots. A lot of them. No, really. More than Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah do per 90 minutes. Only Cole Palmer, Eberchi Eze and Noni Madueke take more than 3.75 shots per 90.
Fulham have trusted in Jimenez and, as Silva put it in January, that trust has been rewarded. More than just the output, the veteran striker has won praise for competing with Rodrigo Muniz for a starting spot in the right way, aiding his development even as he puts up a fight to stay in the Cottagers side for the biggest games. Jimenez has delivered in a fair few of those: his equalizer at Newcastle in a crucial win for Fulham’s European prospects, the brace against Ipswich that saw him become Mexico’s highest scorer in the English top flight, an elegant run outside then inside Jakub Kiwior to earn a draw against Arsenal.
The good news for Aguirre is that so far the Fulham form has carried over to the international stage. The brilliant free kick to put Mexico on course for a 2-0 win over the USMNT was something out of the ordinary, the poacher’s striker at the back post against Honduras anything but. In both games, he got shots up. There are few more valuable traits a center forward can possess. For a time it looked as if Jimenez had lost that. Now there are only a handful in Europe’s top leagues who can compare to him.
How to watch Mexico vs. Canada
- Date: Thursday, Mar. 20 | Time: 10:30 p.m. ET
- Location: SoFi Stadium — Inglewood, Calif.
- Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Mexico +150; Draw +240; Canada +480
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