From drunkard to folk hero: he's already the World Cup's big winner

From drunkard to folk hero: he's already the World Cup's big winner Just a few years ago, Julian Quinones was making headlines mainly off the pitch. Today, however, he is the man making an entire nation dream. At Mexico’s home World Cup, the 29-year-old has emerged as the face of the team and can rightfully be described as the biggest winner of the tournament so far. The numbers alone speak for themselves: In the 2-0 win over South Africa in the opening match, Quinones scored the first goal of this World Cup. In the final group-stage match against the Czech Republic, he struck again. Listen to OneFootball’s World Cup Morning Briefing now! Click here to go straight to the podcast But the Quinones show reached its provisional peak in the round of 32 against Ecuador. The left winger contributed a goal and an assist in the thoroughly deserved 2-0 win and was by far the best player on the pitch. With four goal contributions in four matches, no other player embodies Mexico’s rise quite like him. One party even ended in the hospital Yet the career of the Colombia-born forward has been anything but straightforward. For a long time, Quinones was seen as a major talent who mainly got in his own way. The low point came in 2017 during his loan spell at Mexican club Lobos BUAP. After a night of heavy partying, he got into an altercation with teammate William Palacios. The confrontation escalated so violently that Quinones ended up in hospital with stab and slash wounds. The exact circumstances were reported differently at the time. What is certain, however, is that the incident caused lasting damage to his reputation. And in the years that followed, the attacker kept making negative headlines. During his time at Tigres UANL, he was regularly noticed for excessive nights out and was repeatedly dropped from the squad by his coach because of it. Opposing fans even publicly mocked him as “the drunk.” Can Quinones also crack England? Only in recent years did things turn around. His wedding and the birth of a daughter apparently brought the necessary stability to his life. Quinones also received Mexican citizenship in 2023. Since then, he has developed into the country’s most important attacking player. In addition, he has been under contract with Saudi club Al Qadsiah since 2024. 📸 ALFREDO ESTRELLA - AFP or licensors Quinones is now continuing to write his own personal fairytale on football’s biggest possible stage. Mexico is dreaming, not least because of him, of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in 40 years. To do that, though, they will need another brilliant performance in the upcoming round-of-16 clash against title favourites England. But if anyone can produce an upset right now, it is Julian Quinones. There is a reason why the former bad boy has become Mexico’s national hero. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.