“It makes you wonder if perhaps the moment was just too big for Castillo in those other opportunities?”
This is one of the idiosyncrasies of soccer caused by the fact that substitutions aren’t a major part of the game. Castillo turns 26 this year–it’s not like he’s fresh out of high school and there’s reasonable concern that me might not be ready for the next level. Pick any other sport and you’d never hear a debate over whether a key reserve was ready to play–it’d just be assumed he’d be prepared and capable of playing well if called upon. It’s a bit like how it is accepted that golfers and tennis players need silence to hit shots while baseball batters are expected to hit with an entire stadium screaming at them. Different games produce really different mindsets regarding what athletes should be capable of.
