Edson Castillo’s drop in fortunes at Kaizer Chiefs through this calendar year has left his international career skating on thin ice ahead of the Copa America 2024.
Castillo has squeezed his way back into the Venezuelan squad since joining Chiefs in July, adding three caps to his name, but is now at risk of being dropped.
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The 29-year-old fought his way back to the national team after an impressive start to life with Amakhosi, which came with five goals before Christmas.
This then culminated in consecutive call-ups and three caps.
Fast-forward to May 2024.
Castillo has only played four games from start to finish from his 10 appearances in the year 2024.
He is without a goal or an assist and this has prompted talk of the possibility of leaving in June with interest having emerged from the Middle East.
In contrary, before the turn of the new year he had put in full shifts in 13 matches and was the most prominent player along with Yusuf Maart.
He only came on from the bench thrice and this happened after returning from international duty, which saw him arriving later due to the cross-Atlantic travels that he must make.
Castillo has since not scored in his last 14 appearances, all of which have come under Cavin Johnson’s reign, during which he has found himself introduced with less than 10 minutes remaining on four occasions, including on Tuesday night.
The Venezuelan went in to replace Pule Mmodi deep into the referee’s optional time and within seconds the game ended without him touching the ball.
This painted a clear picture of what this calendar year has become for Castillo at Chiefs, which has left him at the risk of being dropped for the Copa America.
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Castillo played all four group matches for La Vinotinto at the previous Copa America played in Brazil (2021) but is now on knife edge for the tournament taking place in USA on June 20-July 14.
Venezuela have Mexico, Ecuador and Jamaica in Group B.
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