Thomas Shea-Imagn Images
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 to rehab 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 midfielder 17-year-old Lily Yohannes.
Macario, who played as the United…
