ASN: Castaneda’s distinctive journey in Florida leads him to SC Paderborn

ASN’s Brian Sciaretta spoke with central midfielder Santiago Castaneda about his jouney from highschool in Florida to Germany, the place he’s a starter for SC Paderborn within the 2.Bundesliga

BY

Brian Sciaretta

Posted
August 30, 2024
1:05 PM

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NOT LONG AGO in 2022, Santiago Castaneda was simply one other younger American making an attempt to set a path for his future in each soccer and in schooling. A local of Tampa, Castaneda got here by most of the space’s improvement channels – from MLS Subsequent, to highschool, ECNL, after which to USL. Together with his success at each step and together with his willingness to take dangers, Castaneda now finds himself as a beginning central midfielder for SC Paderborn, one of many high groups within the 2.Bundesliga this season.

Castaneda, 19, grew up in Florida and is the son of two dad and mom from Colombia. His father, Carlos Castaneda, is from Medellin and was a former skilled participant within the Colombian leagues. His mom is from Cali and is large supporter of America de Cali. Naturally, each Santiago and his older brother took to soccer from an early age.

“I started playing when I was three years old and, from my father, I looked up to that,” Castaneda advised American Soccer Now. “Also, I have an older brother who’s seven years older than me. He went through everything before me, and I got to see it all. I had him and my father just supporting me and coaching me my whole life.”

Because the youthful Castaneda brother developed right into a promising participant throughout his early teenage years, he needed to make decisions. He was taking part in for Tampa Bay United in MLS Subsequent throughout his freshman and sophomore seasons of highschool however felt the necessity to step away. On the time, schooling was changing into extra essential to Castaneda and his household and he acquired a scholarship alternative to attend Tampa Preparatory College, a high non-public faculty within the space. However MLS Subsequent had a rule that gamers weren’t allowed to play in highschool.

Going through a choice, Castaneda opted to depart Tampa Bay United and enroll and play for Tampa Prep. He additionally joined Florida Premier FC within the Elite Golf equipment Nationwide League (ECNL). In his junior 12 months, Tampa Prep received the state title with a 21-0 file and Castanada as a high participant.

“It was a very tough pathway for me,” Castaneda stated. “Growing up, all I thought about was a professional career. But when I was 15, I transferred to Florida Premier. It was sad because I’m leaving MLS Next, which they say is the best league in the American system. For my parents, education was a huge thing. It was a big decision that started my whole process of thinking differently about school and playing professionally. But honestly, that was one of the best decision I’ve made in my life. If I didn’t attend that school, I don’t think I would be where I am today.”

“It was a private, top tier school,” he continued. “With MLS Next or when it was called the DA Development Academy –  at the time it was getting very serious and I was starting to get a little bit – like the love for the game wasn’t as strong. Once I was playing high school soccer, I tell everyone it was just fun. There’s no pressure. You’re just playing for fun and you’re playing with the guys that you have classes with. It is not the best level of soccer, but it brought joy back to the game for me.”

It was at Florida Premier the place he additionally noticed his recreation proceed to develop. He was invited to play in ECNL’s Florida Nationwide Choice recreation the place he received the Man of the Match and drew consideration from the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the USL Championship. In 2022, he joined the Rowdies academy and saved his eligibility for school. That fall, he participated in a U.S. Open Cup recreation for the Rowdies and later made his USL Championship debut in a win over Pittsburgh.

Quickly, nonetheless, one other turning level got here for Castaneda in late 2022. As faculty soccer was changing into a purpose, he verbally accepted a suggestion to attend the College of Michigan and was now taking extra highschool lessons on-line so he may give attention to working towards with the Rowdies. However he was additionally given the chance by Capelli Sport to be a part of a expertise ID squad to play video games in Denmark. It was there when he caught the eye of MSV Duisburg, a membership taking part in in Germany’s third tier. He was provided a trial.

The trial proved to achieve success, and he was provided a contract. However with a chance to play for Michigan additionally on the desk, he to select

“It was a tough week,” Castaneda stated of his Duisburg trial. “It’s still third division, but the level and the pace was completely different. But I was able to integrate myself well. The fourth day in, they brought me into the office and told me that they wanted to offer me a contract. It was something incredible. Obviously, I had that already planned for my future with Michigan, but then I get this offer. I told them I needed time to think about what I really want to do.”

In the end, Castaneda accepted the supply after lengthy discussions together with his household.

His first skilled season within the third tier was a constructive expertise for him on a private stage. It gave him a chance to play frequently and modify to the skilled stage. In whole, Castaneda performed 2339 minutes in league play whereas making 27 begins and scoring two objectives. On the damaging aspect, nonetheless, the staff struggled and was relegated to the Regionalliga.

However given his youth and fast adaptation to the skilled recreation in Germany, golf equipment have been monitoring his progress. Inside the first third of the season, SC Paderborn within the 2.Bundesliga was already scouting him. By midseason, the curiosity grew to become critical. Shortly after Duisburg’s season ended, Castaneda was capable of make the transfer.

A decade in the past, through the 2014/15 season, Paderborn earned an unlikely promotion to the Bundesliga however have been ultimately relegated after a powerful begin. Having fallen to the third tier in and almost relegated into the Regionalliga, Paderborn earned consecutive promotions and was again within the Bundesliga through the 2019/20 season – once more for only one season.

Now the membership is off to a powerful begin and is trying to return to the Bundesliga for the third time. On this staff, Castaneda is a part of a really youthful roster that’s taking part in with pleasure and power. He performs as a holding No. 6, deep-lying central midfielder, a barely completely different function than the box-to-box function at had at Duisburg. However Castaneda also can nonetheless get entangled offensively and this was proven when Paderborn just lately received its first spherical of the DFB Cup, a 4-0 win over Bremer SV the place Castaneda scored the staff’s second purpose.

For Castaneda, he’s in a superb place in his profession. He’s now in his second season as knowledgeable and is at present incomes significant minutes for a promising 2.Bundesliga membership  – all this whereas nonetheless a young person.

“I don’t think it’s a very huge club,” Castaneda stated of his first video games at Paderborn. “If you look at Schalke, or Hertha Berlin, or Cologne, that pulls off a little pressure on us. Those type of clubs have a little bit more pressure than us to get promoted. For us, half the team is new and we’re a very young team. The ambition to win each weekend is there – not just the players but from the coaching staff and the club in general. Everyone is close. Every time we go out to play, we realize we’re playing for a family. We’ve grown to see each other as family and brothers. As the season goes on, things will get better, and things will start to click even more so.”

The lifetime of a younger skilled participant can change within the blink of an eye fixed and simply two years in the past, his purpose was within the NCAA. However now his present success has let him dream larger. His current rise was too late to make a push for the U.S. Olympic staff (and he’s six weeks too outdated for the present U.S. U-20 staff) however he’s conscious of the reviews that Argentina’s Mauricio Pochettino is near taking the U.S. nationwide staff job, and that makes him much more motivated.

“My whole life I’ve also wanted to be called up for the national team and be able to represent either the USA or Colombia,” Castaneda stated. “When I was in third division with my goal was to get into a better team and I was able to accomplish that. The next goal right now is to get called up for the national team. Obviously, we have players already playing in the MLS and some are already playing in Europe. So, that’s something I need to compete for. It’s a motivation for me.”