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Castillo out for a month after surgery for facial fractures

By IVES GALARCEP

Edgar Castillo has been enjoying one of the best runs of form in the U.S. Men’s National Team pool in recent weeks, but he won’t be a part of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers after suffering facial fractures in Club Tijuana’s match against Atlast last weekend.

Castillo underwent surgery on Monday to repair the fractures and is expected to miss a month while he recovers, Castillo’s agent Eddie Rock confirmed to SBI on Monday.

Castillo has been instrumental in the team’s impressive start in Copa Libertadores, as well as the team’s continued success in the Mexican League.

The surgery means Castillo will not only miss Club Tijuana’s crucial Copa Libertadores showdown vs. Club World Cup champions Corinthians on Wednesday, he will also miss the upcoming U.S. Men’s National Team qualifiers against Costa Rica and Mexico later this month.

Castillo’s injury could open the door for fellow American Greg Garza to see playing time at left back for the defending Mexican champions.

What do you think of this development? Were you hoping to see him get some USMNT minutes soon? Looking forward to see Garza potentially get some important minutes in big matches?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

    • so Castillo is injured, Parkhurst isn’t getting any PT, Lichaj isn’t getting any PT, and Dolo is still working back from injury. hope Chandler and Johnson can stay healthy…

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  1. On another web site someone suggested Justin Morrow as a back-up left back.

    What I would like to see at SBI is a Top Five list for each position on the USMNT, a news article for each position and giving strong and weak points for each member of the list and only those players who play that position at club level can be included in that position. I am convinced there are some MLS players like Magee and Rolfe and Pontius who might be able to contribute to the cause but have been ignored by Klinsmann who has spent the last 18 months tinkering with d-mids and playing Jose Torres as left back or giving guys like Juan Agudelo a look who have not yet, IMO, shown at the club level that they deserve senior team call-ups.

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  2. No! No! Nooooooo!

    That little outburst is for all of you wanting to see Edgar Castillo play left wing ahead of Fabian. Why? That’s crazy. Why would you want Klinsmann to expand his love-affair of playing too many d-mids to include fullbacks. Castillo is a left back, not a winger. We have bona-fide wingers i n the pool who play the position at the club level.

    We need true left wingers who not only can cross, but who also can score like we saw Demarcus Beasley do a couple weeks ago. Of course, Castillo and Fabian might score a goal now and then from the left back position, like we see other offensively minded fullbacks, such as Patrice Evra or Philipp Lahm, do from time to time. But LB and LW are two different positions.

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  3. Slap a facemask on El Homie and bring him to Azteca!

    Also, that pic makes him look like he’s huge. Pretty funny.

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  4. Well there goes the idea of playing in Left Midfield where he is more efficient and better for the US since we have no wide players right now…and his weaker defensive game wouldn’t be such an issue as at Left back…especially with Fabian behind him….I kept telling my friends “he would be perfect to partner up with Fabian as he could overlap Edgar on runs and when necessary Edgar could stay back if Fabian pushes up and slides into the attack mode for a breakaway or picking plays here and there”….oh well….hope Garza sees some minutes so he earns a Gold Cup call up and that Corona starts at least….I was also thinking for the Azteca game….”Imagine Castillo at left mid in front of Fabian and his TEAMMATE on the other wing or in the middle right NEXT to him”…..come on Jurgen call up Joe Benny and START HIM…we need more attacking mids not 3 DF mids

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    • although I’ve long been a skeptic of Castillo, I honestly was also hoping to see him compete with Brek to play ahead of Fabian on the left wing due to his recent play, to give us true width.

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    • anybody have the goods on how it happened? did he get elbowed? was it someone shoving their forehead into his Face? what happened please

      thank you

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  5. No recent news on Dolo makes me assume he will miss the next WCQ, too.

    Behind Fabian and Chandler, who do we bring in as backups? Parkhurst, despite not playing much lately due to the bedding in period and a recent illness? Lichaj, who doesn’t seem to get many minutes at all now?

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    • Parkhurst, Lichaj… You forget Klinsi’s new love child: Evans, his answer to Bradley’s relationship with Bornstein.

      In reality, I hope, we bring in: Chandler, Fabian, Parkhurst, Lichaj, and Boca as sidebacks. Boca is a last ditch, please God may the game get canceled because of rain, option.

      We also have Cameron who can play as a sideback in a crunch. Morales was also a wild card people seem to favor, albeit, I have never seen him play so I can’t comment.

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  6. Too bad

    Why dont we ask the other mexican-american – Miguel Ponce

    He’s been out of mexico’s plans for awhile

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      • Huh?? Ponce was born in Sacramento.

        I thought he was cap tied at this point, but I could be wrong… in any case, he is with Chivas so he’s not playing for the US or they will run him out of town like they did Omar Salgado (and soon Oceguda).

      • Actually Ocegueda I think is player from Tigres and for some reason is in Chivas which might be a loan or maybe they are relaxed about now…..Salagado didn’t necessarily get ran out, he just chose to leave since he was told to play at Chivas he couldn’t play for the US, but he also didn’t like living and maybe even playing in Mexico he said he felt very homesick….ironically he is in Canada now lol

  7. That is a bummer. I looked at the box of that game and it appears to have been a wild affair, with Atlas getting six yellow cards and Tijuana getting seven yellow cards and a straight red. This was not mentioned in SBI’s Americans Abroad Rewind, but two of Tijuana’s yellow cards went to Joe Corona in his 12 minutes on the field, meaning he came on at 75 minutes and got his yellow-red at 87 minutes.

    Does anyone know how Castillo was injured and what other sorts of shenanigans were going on during the game? A report would be appreciated.

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    • Ooops. the formatting on the box of the game I looked at is sort of messed up. I guess it is Fidel Francisco Martinez Tenorio who got the yellow-red card and his name is so long it messed up the formatting on the web site and pushed the cards down to Corona’s name. Sorry about that, Joe. apologies.

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  8. Ffffffuuuuuuuuuuu! I really was hoping we would give him another look either as a sub in a starting role depending on the circumstances. Not that we can’t later but he has been HOT lately and usually it’s a good idea to use your in-form players while they’re in form

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  9. Too bad for Edgar, but is not like JK was planning on using him at the Azteca were he used to play for club America and is very well familiar with. Makes too much sense!

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    • Ain’t that the truth! The story of the USA’s life. It’s not like we have the depth of brazil, Spain, Argentina etc. When we lose people to injury it means a lot more for us: Holden, Onyewu, Davies, Dolo; I mean the list literally could go on and on and on throughout the usmnt history and significant injuries halting or ending players national team careers.

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