Edson Castillo's drop in form at Kaizer Chiefs has not diminished his chances for Venezuela after he featured against Italy on Thursday.
Castillo was called-up to the Venezuela national team for the first time in two years following his impressive start at Chiefs in the early stages of the season, where he scored five goals in all competitions in his first three months at the Glamour Boys.
The 29-year-old was subsequently included in the FIFA South American World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Peru, where in both games he was used in the dying minutes off the bench.
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The box-to-box midfielder, ironically, saw his form drop significantly for Amakhosi after his return from the national team, where he even lost a place in the line-up for a few matches towards the end of last year.
Castillo is yet to score for the Soweto giants since he returned from his national team in December last year but was called up again by head coach Fernando Batista for international friendly matches against Italy and Guatemala.
The versatile midfield man was on the pitch late on Thursday night, up to the early hours of Friday morning, when Venezuela narrowly lost 2-1 to a strong Azzurri line-up at Chase Stadium in Florida in the United States of America.
Castillo, however, is yet to break into the Venezuela starting line-up, as Philadelphia Union midfielder Jose Martinez and Christian Cásseres of French Ligue 1 side Toulouse, were preferred instead.
The former Monagas star was only introduced in the last 12 minutes in place of Martinez, with the score tied 1-1 after Darwin Machis cancelled out an opener for Italy by Mateo Retegui late in the first stanza.
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But unfortunately, Venezuela conceded two minutes after Castillo came on, as Retegui snatched the winner for Luciano Spalletti's charges and completed his brace.
Venezuela will be back in action next Monday midnight against Guatemala in an international friendly, staying in the USA in Houston Texas, where Castillo will be hoping to make his first ever start since June 2021.
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