When Castolo was great…
(The last time Castolo was truly great he was called Castello, but I’ll come to that.)
Yet another Elcherino hat-trick featured in a crazy game against Sampdoria that ended 5-5. That’s 17 goals for him since mid-season. He’s already second in Division 2′s top-scorer table. Caracciolo got my other two goals. I was lousy at defending in this match. Elcherino’s goals have made me complacent. I’ll have to work on that.
Elcherino was unfit for the next game against Spartak Moscow. I had to play Castolo up front on the left. I was quite worried about this game, as I was also missing Altintop, Camacho, and Jackson.
Castolo rose to the challenge of filling the Special One’s boots by scoring all three goals in an easy 3-0 win. Here’s the pick of them:
Ahhh, Castolo. There’s plenty of PES lore that I’ve yet to mention in this blog. The topic of Castolo as a PES phenomenon is a prime example.
Castolo in PES2008 – and in PES down the years – is a subject I will return to at greater length in the future. It’s going to be a long 10 months to PES2009.
For now I’ll just say that until PES4 - I think that was when he underwent the name-change from Castello to Castolo (why? this has never been established) – he really was as good as the first set of strikers you’d end up buying for your ML team, and sometimes better. He was definitely the last player you’d ship out on a trade or transfer, and you’d always get a good price for him.
Nowadays, though, I don’t see what all the Castolo-related fuss is about. He’s better than the other Default players, granted, but being the best of a bad bunch doesn’t make him a good player. In my opinion Castolo, like many real-life players, continues to enjoy a special reputation based on past exploits alone. He really hasn’t been ‘all that’ for at least three instalments of the game now.
Until he scored his hat-trick against Spartak, he’d only scored one other all season. In my first Master League he was just as bad.
And yet people still rave about him, to the extent that the entire Master League default team is often referred to as ‘Castolo & co.’
I don’t get it. Maybe it’s me.
Castolo is crap. Hamsun is the real deal. He’s slow, granted, but he’s hard to take down.
I’ve always had a fondness for Ordaz, who seems like the under-quicked, under-sized goal poacher. The guy who shouldn’t be playing 2nd division football, but got there through hard work and guts.
I don’t think any of the Castolo love has to do with his actual play in recent editions. I think that he’s really more of the figurehead for the default donkeys — the icon of choice for PES nostalgics.
Mirandinha – I prefer Hamsun (or Huylens at a pinch) too before Castolo. I always put Castolo in my Default First XI despite not rating him much, and again it’s due to his past reputation.
ck – Ordaz has had his flashes of brilliance for me. If you watched the PES2008 Megamix vid I made a week or so ago, there’s a goal in the first segment where the striker flicks a crossed ball over his head into the net. That was Ordaz! Another one where he volleyed it straight from a long, out-swinging corner: that was Ordaz too. Whenever he pulls off those kinds of feats I always think he’s great, but then he’ll do nothing for the next 30 games. Or it’s more accurate to say: *I* do nothing. I really am an average player and always have been. It’s why I’ve always got so much mileage out of PES. And it’s why I’m so alarmed at the ease with which I’m destroying teams with one player in PES2008 at the moment.
When I played with defaults (granted only since PES5) my favoured of the default strike force (if you could it such a thing). Was Ordaz, Castolo never did a thing for me like wise with the others. Although I remember breif moments in PES5 when Huylens would play quite well.
I’m at best an average player myself and have recently found form to match yours. Some of my average’ness still shines through occationally though!
I do hope you can find a way to come to live with PES2008 as no matter how its going its a great read and inspiration for me playing it as well. (The normal ML stories bore the hell out of me!).
Paul – it’s really not looking good for me and PES2008. As I’ve said in today’s post, I can’t take the game seriously any more. Not even the strictest House Rule will redeem it now in my eyes. Arcade-style football is just NOT the PES that we have come to know and love so much over so many years.
I’m definitely going to finish this season, and then I’ll have a think.
Luke – I love Castolo,Hamsun,Fouque and mostly Huylens.I do not like Ordaz.I sold him i got Lee Eul Yong!
For me I always use the pre-season training to beef up some stats. Fouque isn’t an out and out striker, but improve his shooting in pre-season and over time his shot power increases to 95. Play him as a SS and you’re on the money.
It’s all about Ordaz, hands down.
Castolo has scored 27 goals out of my 38 so far on World Tour mode on PES 2008 for the DS (just for on the move action).
I don’t think I’d replace the guy.
Gap Daddy – nowadays he’s among the best of a pretty bad bunch, no mistake there. But I remember when he was genuinely great, almost on a par with a ‘proper’ striker from an established club, and you’d keep him for a while even after you could have replaced him. I’m thinking PES3, that kind of era.
Weird, I always seemed to like Guiterrez. Seems like the only player that improves quickly.
vika09—It’s undeniable that there are some Default players who are better than others and can even be great in flashes. But I’d never choose to buy any of them for my team once I get established, unless I was being playful and sentimental about the Default player(s) in question. I think 99.99% of ML players (myself included) are sentimental about the old-style Default players, the ones who actually were pretty good—Castello and Vornander and Oswald & co.
Very true that. I sold Guitterrez by my 4 – 5th season (if I recall correctly), sure, he earned me big money, but there is always this sentiment when giving away players that have developed on your team for a long period of time. The same was with Ivarov, amazing goalkeeper by the 6th – 7th season.
Castolo is the man! i wont trade him. ever.