Gold Cup Daily: Santi the star as Mexico lifts the trophy
The El Tri forward's faith helped him become a Gold Cup hero
Mexico needed a moment. It needed a star. And the player who fans have been hoping and praying would become that star had a star moment.
In front of more than 72,000 fans, Gimenez received a pass inside the circle from Orbelin Pineda in the 88th minute. Watched by Harold Cummings, he held off the Panama center back, taking a touch to his left and breaking away. As he charged into the box, Panama goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera came off his line to try to deter Gimenez from shooting.
Gimenez lined up his shot, putting a spinning roller into the back post, and ran off to celebrate.
The goal lifted Mexico to a 1-0 win over Panama in the Gold Cup final and gave Gimenez a big-game moment to go with the hype he’s had since breaking out with Dutch giant Feyenoord this season.
“It was marvelous. It’s one of the most important goals in my career and the way I felt was beautiful,” Gimenez said after the trophy presentation. “You remember everything you’ve been through. I came in saying God’s timing is perfect. I’m very grateful to Him.”
Already with a goal to his name in the tournament, Gimenez didn’t have this moment. Mexico fans have been hoping to see Gimenez take his place in the line of great Mexican forwards, giving El Tri a true replacement for Chicharito.
With Gimenez having been so successful during the domestic campaign, scoring 15 goals in the Dutch league as Arne Slot’s club won the league plus adding five goals in their Europa League run, the pressure was on him heading into the summer, a fan-favorite dedicated supporters and casual viewers alike seemed convinced would change the team’s trajectory.
Yet after missing out on Tata Martino’s World Cup roster, both Diego Cocca and Jimmy Lozano chose to utilize Gimenez in a substitute role. He’s been unable to find the types of moments that force a manager’s hand. In fact, his few starts generally haven’t gone all that well. Few will remember that now, as Gimenez looks certain to get more opportunities as soon as September when Mexico returns to action for friendly matches ahead of Copa América qualification games.
“I think it’s the biggest year in my career, personally,” Gimenez said. “I think there were a lot of criticisms along the way, and a lot of points of view I didn’t agree with, but God responded.”
As you can tell from his answers, Gimenez’s Christian faith is very important to him. Now 22, Gimenez nearly gave up the sport to focus on his health when he was a teenager and had a blood clot issue near his shoulder that required three operations and put his life in risk.