Castillo says he's been called for U.S. friendlies

After recently declaring his intentions to play for the U.S. national team, New Mexico-born Edgar Castillo has received the call from Bob Bradley.

The U.S. has two friendly matches scheduled for this month against Slovakia and Denmark on Nov. 14 and 18, and according Mediotiempo.com, Castillo will be a part of the team.

"I'm happy about the call up," said Castillo to Mediotiempo.com. "With my family and everybody, we'll see how it goes. On Sunday we leave to Slovakia and then there's a match vs. Denmark. I'm glad to return to international play and this is the first step, that the U.S. has called me to the national team."

Having played his entire club career in Mexico and previously was declared for the Mexican national team, Castillo used new FIFA regulations to switch his international status to that of his birth country.

"I'm taking it step by step -- the first step is that they called me in, and now we'll see how it goes," said Castillo in the interview. "They are two good games for me to show that I want to go to the World Cup -- that's my goal."

Castillo will have these two friendlies to prove himself, and surely another set of matches before next summer's World Cup in South Africa to try to win a place on Bradley's team.

A native of Las Cruces, N.M., Castillo, 23, has played for Santos Laguna and Club America so far in his career. He's currently on loan from America at Tigres.