Israel Castro Macías (born 20 December 1980) is a Mexican former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Pumas UNAM

He joined the Pumas youth system and worked his way through the ranks to debut in 2002; he was a regular starter and played a very important role in the 2004 campaign of the team, when Pumas won consecutive league championships. Fans also call him the "Asesino de galácticos" or "Galactic Assassin". Since he was the lone scorer in the game when Pumas defeated

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

for the Santiago Bernabeu trophy in 2004. After becoming champion with Pumas Unam he was drafted by

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

. He left the team as a captain.

Honours

UNAM * Mexico Primera División: Clausura 2004, Apertura 2004, Clausura 2009, Clausura 2011 *

Campeón de Campeones Campeón de Campeones () is an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic super cup between the Liga MX champions of the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' tournaments. It was initially a super cup match between the league and cup cha ...

: 2004 Cruz Azul *

Copa MX Copa MX, also known as Copa Corona MX for sponsorship reasons, was an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic cup tournament for clubs at the highest and second levels of Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Copa ...

: Clausura 2013 Guadalajara *

: Apertura 2015 Mexico *

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

third place:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Individual *

Primera División de México Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

Best Defensive Midfielder : Clausura 2011

Career statistics

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Mexico's goal tally first.''

References

External links

Israel Castro Profile
at FootballDatabase * * 1980 births Living people Footballers from Mexico City Men's association football midfielders Mexico men's international footballers CONCACAF Gold Cup–winning players 2007 Copa América players 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Club Universidad Nacional footballers Cruz Azul footballers C.D. Guadalajara footballers CD Toledo players Liga MX players Segunda División B players Mexican expatriate men's footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Mexican men's footballers 21st-century Mexican sportsmen {{Mexico-footy-midfielder-1980s-stub