The Unbreakable Bond
Jorge Castro, El Salvador
Jorge Castro lives in Round Rock near Austin, Texas. His father is from El Salvador, and his mother is Mexican-American. Supporting and watching El Salvador helps Jorge feel connected to his Salvadoran heritage, and he shares this intense passion with his father. Jorge works at a football store in Round Rock called The Soccer Corner. He has become part of the Austin football community and a member of La Murga de Austin supporters’ band for FC Austin, where he plays a drum called the surdo. He is now teaching his little brother.
My name is Jorge Castro Jr, and I was born in Austin, Texas. I have lived in Round Rock, a city near Austin, my whole life. I am 27 years old, and my favorite football teams are El Salvador (La Selecta), C.D Águila in El Salvador, and Austin FC. I work as Assistant Manager at a football store called The Soccer Corner in Round Rock. Working there has allowed me to be around football every day and also get involved with the amazing Austin football community. I have been doing this job for six years. Besides helping people get into the right boot or apparel, I love organizing the stockroom by boot styles and sizes.
My father was born in Nuevo Eden de San Juan, El Salvador. He also lived in Santa Ana and San Marcos before he came to the United States to escape the civil war in the ‘80s. My mother was born in Georgetown, Texas, and has lived in the Austin area her whole life. She is a multi-generation Mexican American. I love being Salvadoran, and I love representing our hardworking people here in the United States.
Falling In Love With La Selecta
My time of being a fan of La Selecta has been filled with lots of ups and downs. I fell in love with La Selecta in 2008 after watching them come back from a 2-0 deficit against Panama to win 3-2 and seeing the pride on my dad’s face. Another high point of watching the team was when they beat Mexico in San Salvador for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. The game was awesome because against all odds they were able to beat a powerful Mexico team.
Football has been one of the best things that has happened to me in my life, as it allows me to show how proud I am to be Salvadoran. I love when it is game day for La Selecta because it allows me to feel connected to my country and the Salvadoran people. One way to express my support for the team is by wearing whatever I can that represents El Salvador. Another way is by making banners to take to the game that have ES on them.
Football Changed My Life
I started working at The Soccer Corner in 2017. Working at The Soccer Corner completely changed my life in the football world. This helped me connect with the amazing Austin football community. I played a little while growing up with friends, but my love and obsession with football started in 2008 when I fell in love with the El Salvador national team.
Football has allowed me to meet amazing people that I probably would not have met if football did not connect us. Before I started my job, I was very shy and kept to myself. I am still shy, but with football, I can be myself and make friends that share the same passion that I have. Football means a lot to my community. It has brought people together from different communities, backgrounds, and all walks of life. We have all come together and become one big family.
Outside of work, my time is still spent around football. I spend a lot of my free time supporting Austin FC. This includes me going to La Murga de Austin (LMDA) practice on Tuesdays, going to the games, or attending watch parties when they are out of town.
La Murga de Austin is the supporters’ band for Austin FC. The band has a mixture of amazing musicians and people who learned how to play an instrument just for LMDA. I joined in December 2019, thanks to my friend Rigo. He told me about the practices and invited me to go. We are just a band of people that love Austin FC and get together to sing and cheer for our team for 90 minutes.
Football In Our Blood
The love for football is something we all share and it is something that brings us together. In the good times and the bad, we spend 90 minutes together watching a sport, and it is like nothing else matters. My father is the one that installed the passion for football inside of me.
I love spending time with my dad no matter what. But it means a lot to me when we get to go and see our national team play. Knowing how long he has watched this national team since he was a child and sharing that passion with him now means the world to me. It is something I hope to keep alive with my brother, instilling in him that passion we have for La Selecta, and I hope that is passed down for generations to come.
For the Panama match in the Concacaf Gold Cup, we had about a three-hour drive from Austin to Houston talking about life and football. It was beautiful when we got to the stadium, and it was like a big party outside. There were 20,000 people at the game and the majority were Salvadoreños. It is amazing to see Salvadorans here in the United States still show up to support this team no matter what. When we go to these games, I can always see the pride in my dad’s face to be from El Salvador.
My little brother Javian already has the same love for football as me and my dad do, it is something I will cherish for the rest of my life. He loves going to the Austin FC games, chanting, and singing for the whole 90 minutes. I hope he continues the legacy: that we Castros have football in our blood. I am teaching him how to play the drum so he can be the future of La Murga de Austin.
Before I joined LMDA I had never played an instrument, but I knew I wanted to be a part of the supporters group. So I learned to play the surdo (a Brazilian samba bass drum), and I have loved every minute of it. Ever since I joined the group, my brother told me that he wanted to be a part of it too. He would put on our songs and play along to them, and now that he is older, I am starting to teach him how to play the surdo. When I am too old and cannot play, Javian can continue to keep the legacy alive.
Living A Dream
That day I watched El Salvador vs Jamaica in Estadio Cuscatlán was probably one of the best days of my life. When I was younger, I never thought I would ever go to El Salvador, let alone go to see a game at Estadio Cuscatlán. When I first walked into the stadium, I thought I was dreaming; it was like I had gone to heaven. I could feel all the history that has been in the stadium, all the amazing teams that have played there. And being able to share that with my father is the best thing I could have ever asked for.
It made me feel special after hearing all of the great experiences he had in the stadium when he lived there. Being able to share that with him and being able to create an experience together was one of the best moments of my life. It made it even better that we beat Jamaica 2-1 and qualified for that year’s Concacaf Gold Cup.
What It Means To Be Salvadoran
I have mainly watched El Salvador this summer at my house. But it is also cool working at a soccer store because I can watch them there too. When I watch El Salvador play, it helps me feel connected with the Salvadoran people, knowing that we all have the same passion for our team. We love the team during the good times and the bad. And we all have the hope that one day we reach the highest level by qualifying for a World Cup.
On game days, I just try to wear as much blue as possible. I usually wear an El Salvador shirt and a blue hat and blue socks. I also try to listen to music from the country. I mainly listen to Los Hermanos Flores, or some kind of Salvadoran cumbia, a type of dance music of Colombian origin, similar to salsa and using guitars, accordions, bass guitar, percussion, and güiro.
Before the games I usually eat a special dish from El Salvador, something like pupusas or pasteles. Pupusas are known as the national dish. They are thick corn tortillas that can be stuffed with various fillings, including meats, refried beans, cheese, and even squash flowers. The filled corn tortillas are then cooked to perfection on a traditional grill referred to as a comal. Just be sure to eat them with your hands and never a fork. Pasteles are another traditional Salvadoran dish. They are made with corn masa (dough) and stuffed with either chicken, beef, or pork and chopped vegetables. They are fried until crispy and served with pickled cabbage and red salsa.
The photos are taken around my house and my city of Austin and in Houston, where I went to see La Selecta play against Panama. I tried to capture what it means to me to be Salvadoran. Being able to share these experiences with my father and now, my brother. And I hope people can see from these photos what it means to me to be a football fan and what it means to be Salvadoran.
Creating a Better Future
My personal ambitions are to continue to work hard at The Soccer Corner and continue to help people with whatever they need, whether that is buying boots or whatever they need to be the best player they can be on the pitch.
Outside of football, I want to go back to college so I can get my law degree and continue to help people, but from a legal standpoint. I want to be an immigration lawyer. I saw how the lawyer that helped my dad get his citizenship made the process easier and took the stress off my parents. I want to help people not live in fear, but live with tranquility. Just like the lawyer who helped my family.
My hope for Salvadoreño football is that it continues to grow, that it can become more professional football with better stadiums and better pitches, and that the players can be paid more for what they do. El Salvador has some of the best players. When our football league becomes more professional, our national team can compete at a higher level, and hopefully can qualify for a World Cup.
