Raúl Jiménez joins the Mexican national team ahead of World Cup

Good news for the Mexico national team and for their head coach, Gerardo Martino, because it seems that Raúl Jiménez will be fit for the upcoming FIFA World Cup. The 31-year-old returned to full training last week with Wolverhmapton after spending three weeks in Mexico rehabilitating his chronic groin injury.

Jiménez traveled to Spain on Sunday

It was confirmed by Wolverhampton that even though Jiménez was practicing with the rest of the team, that he will not play with them until after the break. The 31-year-old will miss the Carabao Cup home game against Leeds United on Wednesday and the Premier League fixture on Saturday at home against Arsenal.

So on Sunday night, the former Club América product traveled to Spain to join the Mexico national team’s camp ahead of the two friendlies that they will play before the start of the World Cup. Raúl Jiménez even trained with the rest of his teammates during Monday’s sessions and he is fighting to reach full fitness to be included in the 26-player World Cup roster that will be announced next week.

Jiménez has been clear from the beginning that if he is not fit for the World Cup he will step aside to make things easier for Martino to call up another striker that is healthy. The 31-year-old has not played for club or country since suffering the groin in August, but Martino said last month that he will wait until the last minute for Jiménez to recover.

Raúl Jiménez has been the striker of choice for Gerardo Martino since taking over the job in 2019 and it looks like he will be able to travel to Qatar next week. During Monday’s training session the Wolverhampton ace looked happy and loose, but he will not see minutes against Iraq on Wednesday or Sweden on 16 November.