INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The 2024 Olympics had gone on without her, just as the women’s World Cup had a year earlier. On her own in London, recovering from persistent knee problems that had stalled her U.S. national soccer team career for most of two years, Catarina Macario watched her friends defeat Brazil, her birthplace, for the gold medal in Paris.
“I remember watching that game just at the edge of my seat,” she said Friday. “It was a little bit bittersweet. … It was one in which I wish I could have been there.”
Almost eight months have passed, and the top-ranked U.S. team is preparing to face No. 8 Brazil again in a pair of friendlies — hardly the magnitude of the Olympics or World Cup but an important stepping stone on Macario’s reascent.
In her second U.S. camp this year since missing the Olympics, the 25-year-old attacker seems almost certain to start Saturday here at SoFi Stadium or Tuesday in San Jose.
“It is so amazing to have her back,” U.S. captain Lindsey Heaps said. “It’s a different kind of player you haven’t seen in a while and one that we’ve obviously missed greatly. I mean, Catarina is world class. I love the brain she has — the football brain.”
Macario’s soccer smarts are just a portion of her qualities missed by the U.S. team for most of the time since she tore the ACL in her left knee in June 2022. She is a goal creator and a goal scorer — assets Coach Emma Hayes welcomes while the vaunted “Triple Espresso” is largely out of service. Sophia Wilson is on maternity leave, Mallory Swanson is on personal leave and Trinity Rodman is in camp but managing a back ailment.
Amid a bounce-back season with English club Chelsea FC, Macario started two SheBelieves Cup matches for the U.S. team in February and earned her way back to the roster this week. An attacking midfielder and striker, Macario is expected to see time on the depleted front line.
“She’s still growing into a [national team] shirt,” said Hayes, who coached Macario at Chelsea before stepping into the U.S. job last year. “She’s gone through X amount of months injury-free. She’s been on the pitch. She’s been playing.”
Hayes added: “Have we seen the best Cat Macario yet? Absolutely not. How long will that take? I always tell players this: You need to play continuously, stay on the field. Getting through another season and getting another preseason [with Chelsea this summer] under her belt, we’ll start to see it go up another level.”
Macario has been on the field regularly, playing 24 matches across all competitions, with 13 starts and seven goals, including three during Chelsea’s run to the UEFA Champions League semifinals against defending champion FC Barcelona this month.
It’s a far cry from her pre-injury high point — 23 goals in 34 appearances for European champion Olympique Lyonnais in 2021-22 — but it’s progress. Her goal is to play at the 2027 World Cup in Brazil, which would be her first major competition since making one brief appearance at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Hayes “helps me to remember that I’ve come a long way and we just have to see it as a win, even though it’s still a work in progress,” Macario said. “It’s just something you constantly have to work on — mentally, physically, everything.”
Initially hopeful of returning for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, she continued dealing with knee problems. In all, she was inactive for 21 months.
Her next international target was the Olympics last year, but after being selected to the squad by Hayes, Macario withdrew because of right knee irritation.
Injuries notwithstanding, it’s been a long road. Growing up in northern Brazil, Macario dreamed of becoming the next Mia Hamm. To benefit her soccer development, she moved at age 12 with her father and brother to San Diego. Her mother, a physician, stayed behind.
Macario excelled on the youth scene and, at Stanford, twice won the Hermann Trophy as the nation’s best player before forgoing her last year of eligibility to sign with Lyonnais.
After the initial success, her ACL injury in the last game of the 2021-22 league season began the long struggle to regain her health, form and place in the U.S. program.
She had become a U.S. citizen in October 2020 and debuted with the national team months later as a sub for Megan Rapinoe against Colombia. Because of the injuries, Macario has been limited to 21 U.S. matches, with 14 starts and nine goals.
In February 2021, Macario was in uniform against Brazil in Orlando but did not play. Once recruited by the Brazilians, she is slated to face her homeland during this camp.
“It will obviously be very special, kind of like a full-circle moment,” Macario said. “I’ve always looked up to them and followed along, even though I play for the U.S. now. Brazil does hold a very special piece of my heart. Of course, I’m in awe of Marta and everything she’s done. Just to be able to potentially share the pitch with her and some of the players would be very special and very touching. I’m just very grateful to be in this position.”
