– The weekend didn’t start well for Jens Castrop and 1. FC Nürnberg. The fact that it ended on a reasonably forgiving basis wasn’t just due to the late equalizer in Bielefeld.
When Jens Castrop starts to slide, he probably already suspects that he is unlikely to hit the ball. That’s how it happens. The opponent falls, emergency brake, the referee shows red – and Castrop? He just sits there with a big smile on his face. He can still play anyway.
The weekend didn’t start particularly well for the 19-year-old soccer player from 1. FC Nürnberg, but it ended on a very positive note. On Friday evening Castrop had to play again as a right-back in Bielefeld, but his working day was over after 45 minutes; at the score of 0:2. Coach Dieter Hecking changed tactics after the unsuccessful first half, the young defensive all-rounder had to give way to the experienced Johannes Geis.
“Twice fell for the long balls”
“The attempts with the ball were there, but then we fell for the long balls twice and were punished coldly as a result,” says Castrop about the goals that were not primarily his area of responsibility and which still cost him more playing time. Almost 24 hours later, there is no longer any sign of his frustration: “We are very proud of the second half that the substitutes were able to bring such an impetus and we were able to take a point.”
Because his colleagues managed a late comeback and the club still started the journey home from the Alm with a point, it was not a completely used Friday evening for Castrop either. The day after, his mood brightened even more, although there was still another mandatory appointment.
In the belly of the Max Morlock Stadium, 1. FC Nürnberg and Sparkasse Nürnberg had invited to the fourth edition of the “Club Community Cup”. A total of 128 people, almost exclusively young men, had gathered to play the soccer games against each other on the Playstation. Playing simulation “Fifa”. The hosts nominated Castrop for their celebrity team as well as Nathaniel Brown, who had been allowed to play for almost 90 minutes the night before; not the worst idea, as this entertaining event would soon show.
Castrop relies on Neymar, Mbbapé and Ronaldo
Even though the two pros emphasized that they haven’t been spending too much time on football simulations lately, it was obvious that over the years they’ve not only trained hard on the pitch, but also on the console.
In the first round of the “CCC” they easily won 7:0, in the second round they achieved a 5:1 success that was never in danger despite Castrop’s virtual emergency brake. They also later win the round of 16 – but then prefer to leave their quarter-final ticket to the defeated before anyone else gets the idea that the football professionals are perhaps investing too much time in trivialities in view of the still tense sporting situation.
Would he also have made a good e-sportsman? “I couldn’t mentally do that to myself with the EA servers,” says Castrop, grinning his broad grin again, “but maybe for fun and skill. Maybe.” If you chat with him a bit about the sport on the game console, you will quickly realize that he has actually delved a little deeper. “Neymar, Mbbapé and Ronaldo were mandatory,” he says of the solid pillars of his “Ultimate Team,” with whom he has played for points in the virtual world in the past.
Better tuning with Hecking
In the real world, the player on loan from 1. FC Köln is still concerned with getting away from the ugly places in the 2nd Bundesliga with 1. FC Nürnberg as soon as possible. Castrop sounds pretty confident that this can happen soon – despite the first half against Arminia from Bielefeld.
“You can tell from the atmosphere in the team that a lot has happened,” he says of the past few weeks since Dieter Hecking has been on the sidelines. “I can’t say how much of this has to do with the change of coach, everyone has to say that for themselves,” Castrop admits to the diplomats, “but it feels good right now and we hope that we can build on it and in the next ones games can collect even more points.”
