Edgar Castillo
Filed under: Mexico, US National Team, US U-23 Olympic Team
Dan Frosch from the New York Times has a great read about New Mexico’s Edgar Castillo and his decision to play for Mexico instead of the United States.
What I liked seeing was the acknowledgment of US Soccer President Sunil Gulati and US Head Coach Bob Bradley that while they missed out on Castillo, they held on to San Luis’ Michael Orozco.
With former World Cup player /Colombian Wilmer Cabrera now filling the void of Hispanic Coaches in the younger US Soccer system as Head Coach of the US Under-17 National Team, along with former MLS Veterans Raul Diaz Arce and Marco Etcheverry involved with various US Youth Teams, hopefully we’ll see less and less players lost or passed over because of the lack of opportunities that Castillo had.
On a separate note, what does the success of Castillo and Orozco in Mexico say about the type of players that “America” is producing before they get to the college of MLS age groups.
image via NYTimes
Exception rather than the rule? I highly doubt that assessment from Gulati. And you don’t have to talented and Hispanic to be missed by US soccer. Don’t we know of young Americans who went through the ManU system who also were bypassed? Pareja would have been quoted in this but he just left US Soccer. Still tremendous gaps in the US program IMHO.
Frosch’s article brings up an issue that I have with U.S. coaches and commentators (and the occasional fan): the obsession with a player’s size. Too often I here praises about a U.S. player based on the players size and seeming strength. Sure, size can be useful, but technical skill always trumps. Some of the greatest players have not been physical giants, by any measure: Pele’ is 5′ 8.5″; Maradona is 5′ 5″; and Bobby Charlton is 5′ 8″. And some of today’s greats are of “lesser stature”: Lionel Messi is 5′ 6.5″ while La Liga’s leading scorer, David Villa, is 5′ 9″. These guys don’t muscle their way to scores. Instead, they have great technical skill and tactical awareness. That’s what makes for “sexy football”. Until U.S. coaches learn this lesson, we will continue to lose talented players such as Castillo.