It can’t be that Edgar Castillo?
A common name, sure, but Azteca FC’s left-back in the 2025 U.S. Open Cup Amateur Qualifying Rounds oozes an uncommon amount of class. That touch. The vision, honed by years in the top pro tiers. Finally, the birthdate confirms it: October 8th, 1986.
“I met up with Don Andy [Andy de la Rosa, who runs amateur side Azteca FC of the Colorado Premier League] when I was playing with the Colorado Rapids in 2018,” said Castillo about how he, 18 times capped for the U.S. Men’s National Team and formerly of Mexican giants Club América, ended up on a high school soccer field near Denver with a local men’s league team. “He always wanted me to come and play and, when he mentioned the team was going after a place in the U.S. Open Cup, I figured why not?"
“There’s some really good young players in the Azteca FC team too,” added Castillo, now 38, but who once shared the field, during a 15-year professional career, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi and Brazilian legend Ronaldinho. “You’d be surprised at the level.”
Castillo, born and raised in Las Cruces, New Mexico, was just 16 when he got the chance – along with 400 other kids – to try out for Liga MX club Santos Laguna in the Mexican city of Torreon. “It’s my mom and dad’s favorite team and out of those hundreds of kids, it was only me and my brother who got picked.
“Everything changed that day,” admitted Castillo.
The year was 2005 and it was the start of a whirlwind decade-plus for the teenager. “It took a few weeks for me to get my dual-citizenship sorted and then I went straight into the Santos reserves,” said Castillo, who put high school on the back burner for a different kind of education – out on the fields of Mexico’s top flight.
He made 78 appearances for Santos Laguna, helping lead the side to the Clausura title in 2008. It was then that “the huge offer” came from Mexico City super-club Club América. “I didn’t really want to leave Santos, because I liked it there and things were going well,” he said. “But you know – the money, the lifestyle, the challenge. You can’t really say no.”
The challenge was serious and, as Castillo admits, “you don’t just go to a Club like America and take off right away. It wasn’t easy.” Loan deals followed – Tigres, San Luis Potosi and Puebla. He won an Apertura in 2012 with Tijuana before another long-term deal came his way, this time with giants Monterrey, between 2015 and 2019.
Castillo’s talents were such that he was called into the late Sven Goran Eriksson’s Mexico national team for three friendlies in 2007 and that year’s Pre-Olympic Tournament. But, taking advantage of a new FIFA rule at the time, he switched sides to line up for the U.S. National Team in 2009.
“I wanted to play for the country where I was born and, really, there was no future for me in the Mexican team with Andres Guardado and others the mix,” said Castillo, who – to this day – is one of only three players to have played for Mexico and the United States.
He was in the USA’s 2013 Concacaf Gold Cup-winning side and was on the bubble for the 2010 World Cup team in South Africa. “It was a great time playing for Bob Bradley; a very good experience,” Castillo said. “And when [Jurgen] Klinsmann came in [in 2011] I was in line behind DaMarcus Beasley and Fabien Johnson. So I missed out on the 2014 World Cup.”
Castillo was in the U.S. team that reached the Semifinals of the 2016 Copa America Centenario, losing out in the Last Four to a Messi-led Argentina in Houston.
His time in Mexican club soccer ended in 2019. But the talent, the style and panache on the left side of the field, meant Castillo was still very much in demand. “Tim Howard called me up and asked, hey you want to come to Denver?” Castillo remembered of how his national teammate, then with MLS’ Colorado Rapids, reached out and helped him kick off a new chapter of his career in Major League Soccer.
It was only a loan deal and it ended after one year when Colorado balked at the price of buying out Castillo’s contract from Monterrey. But another call from an old USMNT teammate came next – after Castillo’s brief stint in New England with the Revolution. This time it was Carlos Bocanegra on the line “He was my roommate with the national team and he was in charge at Atlanta United.”
An ACL tear and a final season in MLS with FC Cincinnati in 2021 signaled the end of Castillo’s formal professional career.
He lives in El Paso, Texas and sees a future for himself in coaching. In the meantime, however, he’s available to play – given the right circumstances and arrangements. And even at the ripe old age of 38, his varied set of skills is still much in demand.
“A lot of ex-pros are involved in playing in one-off money tournaments around the country,” said Castillo, a laid-back character who still has a deep and abiding love for the game. “You get a little money to be a part of a team in a tournament and – depending on the prize money – you can make more on top if you win.”
It’s part of a circuit of informal – and high-octane – soccer tournaments held across the United States. “I just played one outside of Boston,” he said of the tournaments – indoor and outdoor both. “There’s another one in New Orleans with a big prize on the line. The intensity and the quality is right up there.”
And that leads us to Azteca FC. When there’s a big game on the line, like these Open Cup Qualifiers, Castillo gets a call. If he’s able and interested and “if there’s no snow on the ground up there,” he might hop on a flight from El Paso to Denver and line up along the young hopefuls of Azteca FC.
A long way from the Azteca Stadium – or the Copa America – it’s something that still moves him. “It’s different, of course, you have to play on some not-so-great fields and you have to be ready for strange stuff that might happen.”
Strange stuff indeed. The last time Azteca FC played, in the Second Round of 2025 Open Cup Qualifying in October, the game was postponed due to a broken goal frame at the high school field where the game was to be played. “I wasn’t able to make it up for the game anyway,” Castillo chuckled. “But I got a call about the make-up game a few days after and I said, OK, I’ll be there.”
He didn’t score in that one, but he grabbed two in the previous round. For Castillo, it’s all part of the same road – bumpy pitches with a handful of fans is the same, in its essence, as the bright lights of center-stage. “The game is just a part of my life,” said this player, who hasn’t closed the door, at least not officially, on a return to the pro game.
“I’m here and ready for any call,” he said. “I’ll keep doing what I do for as long as I’m able.”
Asked if he’ll be heading up for Azteca FC’s November 17th decider against fellow Colorado amateurs Harpos FC – with the winner Qualifying directly for the 2025 Open Cup – you can hear a smile in Castillo’s voice. “I don’t know yet,” he said. “I’ll have to check the weather.”
Jonah Fontela is editor-in-chief of usopencup.com. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.