It was at the SheBelieves Cup three years ago that Catarina Macario seemingly took THE leap. She was the tournament's MVP in 2022 and it seemed that would be the start of her dominance with the U.S. women's national team. It didn't quite happen that way. Injuries took their toll, and U.S. fans haven't seen that version of Macario since.
On Thursday, we got a glimpse a finally-fit Macario. Spoiler alert: she still looks like a game-changer, one that could finally have a major role to play with this evolving USWNT group.
Macario scored the first of the USWNT's two goals on Thursday, leading the way in a 2-0 win over Colombia in Houston to open the 2025 SheBelieves Cup. This game, on paper, was the easiest of the USWNT's three in this tournament. It didn't always look that way.
The U.S. team, one without the famous Triple Espresso - Sophia Wilson, Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson - in attack, needed real moments of quality to open up this Colombia defense. Ultimately, they got them from several different places.
Macario was the ice-breaker, as she scored her first USWNT goal since April 12, 2022. Lily Yohannes did the hard work, playing Yazmeen Ryan in over the top. Ryan centered the ball and Macario did the rest - and you could immediately see the joy on her face the moment it hit the net.
"That was surreal, seriously," an emotional Macario told TNT after the match. "I just felt like it was a big weight off my shoulders, you know? Just so happy, so thrilled, to be scoring for the national team again, to be playing again... just be having fun, really. It means the whole world.... Definitely not easy - probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.
"There were a lot of tears that were shed, a lot of heartbreaks, that’s for sure. A lot of times that I thought I wouldn’t be able to play again. A lot of adversity, and I’m just so thankful to be playing again.”
That same joy was all over Ally Sentnor's face when she scored the USWNT's second and, more importantly, the first of her international career. It was a long-range stunner. The 2024 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year will be hard-pressed to score any better than this one she netted in her first USWNT start.
It was a good night for Emma Hayes' USWNT overall, as players both new and unfamiliar made their mark. Macario's return to form, though, might just be the most important of all as the U.S. welcomes back a player unlike any other.
GOAL rates the USWNT players from Shell Energy Stadium.
