This Castilla 2022-23 is very, very serious. Raúl has managed to retain his two mainstays from last year (Sergio Arribas and Rafa Marín) and on top of them plus other talents such as Álvaro Rodríguez, Iker Bravo, Edgar Pujol and Mario Martín he has built a winning squad and that which is especially young: its eleven type this course does not even reach 20 years on average (19.6 years). For the first time he looks like a real candidate for the pools for promotion to the Second Division.
It is achieving it with a solidity rarely seen in Castilla, always lurching due to the inexperience of its members. This season is something else. Castilla have not lost since October 2 and it was on his visit to Alcorcón, a recently descended. Since then, a very upward streak: two draws and now three consecutive wins. Raúl’s pupils only kneeled in one other match in these 11 rounds played and it was also in another territory where losing was within the cabal, because it was in Ferrol against a team that is currently fourth in the table.
Castilla seems to have finally internalized something that Raúl has been transmitting to them these last three seasons. To pull out the nails to win. In this mini-streak of three wins in a row, two were carrying out clashes with a lot of crumb. It was capable of knocking down a historic team like Deportivo (1-0) and a Pontevedra (also 1-0) that was planted in Valdebebas with the Brazilian Charles, who is 38 years old and has 108 goals in professional Spanish football… Victories of substance that have also placed the white subsidiary in fifth place already a good number of its players among those who offer the best statistics of the entire First RFEF.
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This is the case of Sergio Arribas (21 years old) and Rafa Marín (20), especially. Both rejected proposals from Primera and abroad to listen to Raúl and Madrid, who asked them to continue for another year. On them, a scoring midfielder and a dominant center back, the rest of the team is structured. It is not surprising therefore that they are the two U-21 footballers who generate the most impact in the First RFEF, according to the data handled by Olocip, a company specialized in applying artificial intelligence to football analysis. And if we don’t look at the date of birth on the DNI, only two players out of the 39 remaining teams in the category surpass them, striker Eneko Jauregui (Amorebieta) and right-back Manu Sánchez (Castellón). This Castilla has the creme de la creme.
It also does so internationally. Iker Bravo (17 years old) and Edgar Pujol (18) are part of La Rojita Sub-19 in this week’s squad for two friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Japan. alvaro rodriguezthe Spanish-Uruguayan tower of the Castillista attack, debuts for his part in a call-up with Uruguay Sub-20 after opting to wear the Celeste in honor of his father’s country of origin.
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In case of edgar pujol it is very significant. He has overtaken another of the center-backs that he had been pushing hard (Marvel) and Olocip’s statistics point to him as the Castillista in the best shape in the last month, precisely the one with this very positive inertia of results. A defender with a lot of packaging who, curiously, He has also had to play this season with a mask, like Rüdiger…
Iker Bravo and Álvaro Rodríguez, the ‘children’ of gold
To explain what future Iker Bravo (17 years old) has, ceded in Factory this course from Bayer Leverkusen (although Madrid intends to exercise the purchase option that it has for him), it is hardly necessary to go to his last letter of introduction. He went down to Juvenil de Arbeloa for the closing day of the Youth League group stage (he can do it due to age) and scored a goal before the Di Stéfano public could sit down. Nine seconds of what elapsed from the initial whistle to the Catalan striker’s goal against Celtic. The fastest flash in the history of this competition which is, for all intents and purposes, the Champions League for Under-19 footballers.
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Iker is splitting between that competition and Raúl’s Castilla, for which he has contributed two goals in just 400 minutes. If anyone thinks that Celtic was a coincidence, go to the Sanse-Castilla tape. There he scored his first goal in the First RFEF… and it was in minute 2 of the duel. This is how they are spent. The one who, for now, is the new Castillo starter is not short of goal and danger either. Álvaro Rodríguez is barely a year older (he is 18) and Raúl made him debut last season. Another of the hallmarks of the mythical Seven. If he sees talent (he perceived it in this 1.93-meter striker and midfielder Mario Martín) he doesn’t care in the least to make them jump two categories of shot, from Juvenil B to Primera RFEF and as starters. Álvaro, Catalan by the way like Iker Bravo, has scored three. The Castillista pichichi is his jewel of the dropped socks, Arribas, with five goals. The MVP so far of a Castilla that plays well and most importantly, has learned to bite.