Junior Castillo

Goalkeeper - Estudiantes de Caracas
29 May 2029
Tuesday
Process

Marked for Junior Castillo

145 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

7 May 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Junior Soteldo

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Javid Bayramov puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Estudiantes de Caracas, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Junior Castillo has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Estudiantes de Caracas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Emmanuel Dung stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Emmanuel Dung and Estudiantes de Caracas agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Luis Parra in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Emmanuel Dung

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Jesús Alvarado gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Match

Point won or two lost for Estudiantes de Caracas?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Caracas? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

Player ratings

A day to forget for Luis Ferraresi

Marked 5.37, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.

In brief

Back issues
141 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

9 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Junior Castillo has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Estudiantes de Caracas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Luis Parra in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Estudiantes de Caracas count the cost of losing Francisco Murillo

35 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Haruna Abubakar signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Haruna Abubakar and Estudiantes de Caracas agree another 4 years.

Squad

No hiding place for Junior Soteldo

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Junior Soteldo, and the manager let it.

Match

Estudiantes de Caracas come up short against Aragua

Aragua left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Carlos Calzadilla

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Richard Rondon keeps on missing

Shots: 12, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.

Market

Junior Soteldo linked with a move away

The name of Junior Soteldo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Estudiantes de Caracas say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

137 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

12 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Stepan Pyatin hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes de Caracas can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Junior Castillo has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Estudiantes de Caracas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Estudiantes de Caracas lose Francisco Murillo

64 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Luis Parra in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Estudiantes de Merida take the points off Estudiantes de Caracas

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Junior Soteldo gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Haruna Abubakar runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Stepan Pyatin wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Estudiantes de Caracas know it.

Player ratings

The one thing Luis Savarino could not do

Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.

In brief

133 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

12 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Only the photograph left for Junior Castillo

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Junior Castillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Estudiantes de Caracas the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Luis Parra in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Richard Rondon sends Estudiantes de Caracas past Zamora

It finished 2‑1, and it was Richard Rondon’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Estudiantes de Caracas.

Player ratings

Richard Rondon in the eights

A performance of 8.56 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

One of those days for Oscar Martinez

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Estudiantes de Caracas lose Andres Soteldo

33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Rafael Rondon

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Estudiantes de Caracas lose Alejandro Otero

21 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Luis Savarino

Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

129 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

15 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Junior Castillo has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Estudiantes de Caracas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Luis Parra in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Stepan Pyatin gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

127 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

1 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Richard Rondon is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Estudiantes de Caracas will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Squad

Luis Parra in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Estudiantes de Caracas lose David Otero

14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Market

Mineros de Guayana expected to open talks for Junior Castillo

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Estudiantes de Caracas will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Squad

The armband comes off David Rosales

Estudiantes de Caracas will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.

Market

The Luis Parra question follows Estudiantes de Caracas around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Luis Parra’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

126 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

25 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Deportivo Tachira come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Estudiantes de Caracas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Junior Castillo hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes de Caracas can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tobías Rubio in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

125 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

18 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Richard Rondon is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Estudiantes de Caracas will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

Tobías Rubio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Estudiantes de Caracas lose Jose Casseres

22 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

In brief

124 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

11 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Estudiantes de Caracas refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 54 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Squad

Tobías Rubio in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Estudiantes de Caracas count the cost of losing Junior Castillo

25 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Loan watch

Junior Osorio has seen enough of Deportivo Lara

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Estudiantes de Caracas, and 3 appearances in 48 say he has earned the hearing.

Squad

Ramiro Zotelo gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

“I want to play”: Ramiro Zotelo speaks

“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.

In brief

123 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

4 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Franner López puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Estudiantes de Caracas, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

David Rosales signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Rosales and Estudiantes de Caracas agree another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

Tobías Rubio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Stepan Pyatin wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Estudiantes de Caracas know it.

Market

No place for Junior Castillo in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Junior Castillo has his answer from Estudiantes de Caracas; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Market

The Luis Parra question follows Estudiantes de Caracas around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Luis Parra’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

120 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

13 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Estudiantes de Caracas up to position 3

54 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Squad

Tobías Rubio in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

No hiding place for Ramiro Zotelo

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramiro Zotelo, and the manager let it.

In brief

116 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

16 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Estudiantes de Caracas refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 54 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Squad

Tobías Rubio in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Junior Castillo out for 86 days

The medical room confirms 86 days on the sidelines for Junior Castillo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

In brief

113 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

25 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Junior Castillo says Estudiantes de Caracas went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

Tobías Rubio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Franner López gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

112 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

18 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Estudiantes de Caracas up to position 3

54 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Squad

Tobías Rubio in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Estudiantes de Caracas lose Junior Castillo

116 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

In brief

106 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

7 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Whatever happens, Estudiantes de Caracas do not lose

7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Oscar Martinez signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Oscar Martinez commits to Estudiantes de Caracas for another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

Tobías Rubio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

Emmanuel Dung runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

No hiding place for Richard Rondon

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Rondon, and the manager let it.

Squad

Getting past Junior Soteldo has become the hardest job in the division

11 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.

Loan watch

Luis Ferraresi has seen enough of Deportivo Lara

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Estudiantes de Caracas, and 19 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.

Match

Honours even between Estudiantes de Caracas and Carabobo

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

Player ratings

Rafael Rondon leaves them behind him

Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

In brief

100 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

26 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Luis Castillo hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes de Caracas can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Hugo Sánchez: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Estudiantes de Caracas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

Tobías Rubio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Emmanuel Dung

Marked 8.98 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

Emmanuel Dung is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.36 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

No hiding place for Daniel Osorio

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Osorio, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Oscar Martinez

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Estudiantes de Caracas share the spoils with Estudiantes de Merida

A 1‑1 draw with Estudiantes de Merida leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

Player ratings

Francisco Murillo leaves them behind him

Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

In brief

80 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

7 Feb 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Haruna Abubakar says Estudiantes de Caracas went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Junior Soteldo in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Jesús Alvarado

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Junior Castillo signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Junior Castillo commits to Estudiantes de Caracas for another 1 years.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Tobías Rubio

A mark of 7.70, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Oscar Martinez

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

62 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

4 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

David Rosales signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Rosales commits to Estudiantes de Caracas for another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

Luis Parra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Novri Setiawan wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Estudiantes de Caracas know it.

Squad

A season on the outside for Emmanuel Dung

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Estudiantes de Caracas has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

Market

Still no ink between Estudiantes de Caracas and Junior Castillo

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Estudiantes de Caracas, another week without a signature from Junior Castillo.

Market

Haruki Saruta placed on the list

Estudiantes de Caracas have made Haruki Saruta available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

In brief

60 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Junior Castillo keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Estudiantes de Caracas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

Luis Parra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Nader Al-Muwallad stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Nader Al-Muwallad and Estudiantes de Caracas agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief