Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of sweating over in Mexico regarding the fitness of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Raúl Jiménez.
The striker hasn’t featured on a football pitch since the end of August, and he has been in a race against time to try and return to fitness for the World Cup.
That didn’t stop Tata Martino from calling him up, as the Wolves star was included in the list of 26 players, but it appears there is a caveat.
This comes courtesy of Fox Sports in Mexico, via their journalist Fernando Cevallos, who explained that the Mexican FA have an agreement with FIFA when it comes to Jiménez.
He said: “They tell me that the Mexican Football Association has the OK from FIFA. The situation is like this: Raúl Jiménez will be tested on Wednesday. If Raúl Jiménez can’t or injures himself, he will be out and Santi Giménez will take the place.”
"RAÚL JIMÉNEZ ESTARÁ A PRUEBA EL MIÉRCOLES Y SI NO PUEDE O SE LESIONA, SERÍA BAJA Y SANTI GIMÉNEZ OCUPA EL LUGAR" 🚨🇲🇽
Ojo con el OK que nos confirma @FerCevallosF tiene la Federación Mexicana de Futbol por parte de FIFA 👀 #LUP #FOXSportsEnQatar pic.twitter.com/Aooi4jHDvn
— FOX Sports MX (@FOXSportsMX) November 14, 2022
It seems the idea is for the Wolves star to play some part in the upcoming friendly against Sweden, at which point a decision will be made.
If he feels any pain, injures himself again or simply doesn’t feel ready to feature, then that will be it for the Mexican.
That means there is a lot riding on this game for Jiménez, who will be hoping everything goes well for him so he can keep his place in the squad.
