Catarina Macario said it felt like “a big weight off my shoulders” to score for the United States women’s national team again after a series of knee issues kept her out of the two most recent major tournaments.
Macario scored her first goal for the U.S. in nearly three years on Thursday in a 2-0 victory over Colombia to open the 2025 SheBelieves Cup. It was her first international game since June 1, 2024.
“Definitely not easy,” Macario, appearing on TBS after the match, said about the process of rehabbing a torn ACL sustained in 2022. “Probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. There are 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. Just a lot of adversity and I’m just so thankful to be playing again.”
Macario scored in the 33rd minute, finishing a low cross from Yazmeen Ryan following a lofted through ball by 17-year-old midfielder Lily Yohannes.
Macario, who played as the United States’ central forward on Thursday but can also play as a No. 10, obtained her U.S. citizenship in late 2020 and became a focal point of former U.S. head coach Vlatko Andonovski’s attempted rebuild of the team in 2021 and 2022.
She scored her first U.S. goal in her second cap in 2021 and was part of the 2021 Olympic bronze-medal winning team.
Macario tore her ACL in a meaningless final domestic match of the year for French powerhouse Lyon in 2022. She faced setbacks that ruled her out of making a World Cup debut in 2023 and raised doubts about her long-term future.
“Now, I just take it day by day and I just try and think about how grateful I am to be able to play again, to be able to kick a ball again, to be able to represent the national team again,” Macario said. “It just reminds me to never take anything for granted and really just think about how grateful I am to be able to move my legs in the right way.”
Macario transferred to Chelsea in summer 2023 despite not yet being fully fit. Emma Hayes, who is now the U.S. head coach, was the manager of Chelsea at the time.
Hayes and Macario shared a long embrace on the sideline on Thursday when Macario exited the match in the 64th minute.
“I don’t even have the words to describe how hard that was,” Macario said. “Even Emma, after I came out [of the game], she knows more than anyone how tough this was and how much patience it took. I’m so happy.”
Hayes said she told Macario that everyone was happy for her. Hayes initially named Macario to last year’s Olympic team, but Macario withdrew from the squad due to ongoing knee irritation. The U.S. won the gold medal in August.
“I think my first feeling was, just aside from being happy for her, was that I just felt pride because of how long she’d been out and how hard it had been for her,” Hayes said. “And also because I thought she played well. I thought she held the ball up so well, linked exceptionally well… she’s got an instinct in and around the goal which was demonstrated with the goal [she scored].”
Ally Sentnor added a second goal for the U.S. at the hour mark to get a U.S. team absent several stars off to a winning start in 2025.
“We’re just having fun out there, really,” Macario said. “We’re just trying to make the most out of it. We didn’t get that many chances to practice together. … It was beautiful to play, it was beautiful to watch, just really fun out there to be honest.”
