Castillo to return to Mexican national team

Nery Castillo will be called back to the Mexican national team for the Nov. 12 friendly match against Ecuador in Phoenix.

The Manchester City striker had communication with México boss Sven-Göran Eriksson and it was agreed that he would be taken into consideration for the upcoming friendly outside of the FIFA calendar, since he has yet to play for City this season.

The news was revealed at the offices of the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF), where director of the National Team, Guillermo Cantú, indicated that this call-up is to support Nery in his difficult moment and help him recover his form.

"He is a very important talent that we have," stated Cantú. "In that sense, by all means we will try to help him and provide all of those who comprise the national team with all the elements to develop well; this, so his individual efforts are translated to a collective benefit."

Cantú said the friendly match will serve as preparation for the Nov. 19 qualifier match against Honduras and the FMF is ready to ask permission to get Castillo with plenty of time.

"The preparation will be short, but it will help us a lot because it will be before the match against Honduras," Cantú said. "In Nery's case, we are ready to ask for him, and we are going to negotiate so that we can borrow him on a date that is not FIFA, because we want him to arrive with some days of anticipation and then travel to Phoenix for the match against Ecuador. If he is there against Honduras or not, that will be determined by the manager after the match on the 12th."

Castillo made his debut for México in a match held in his birth town of San Luis Potosí, against Iran on June 2, 2007.

Since then he has had 13 appearances and has scored five goals; he also represented El Tri in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the '07 Copa America, where he was the third-highest scorer of the tournament with four goals. His last participation wearing the México jersey was on March 26, 2008, in a friendly match against Ghana played in England, which México won 2-1.