Barring an unforeseen injury recovery, the USA women’s soccer national team is set to miss two of its most important players at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup after star attacker Catarina Macario officially bowed out, and influential winger Mallory Swanson suffered a serious injury that many expect will force her to sit out.
Macario suffered a torn ACL in June 2022 in a meaningless late-season match with her club team Lyon, leaving her sidelined for a year. While she was hoping to emerge from that ordeal fit for the 2023 World Cup, it didn’t happen, and on May 23, 2023 she announced she would not be available for selection.
Swanson, meanwhile, suffered a torn patella tendon in April 2023, picking up the injury in a friendly against the Republic of Ireland. She’s been out since, and given that the injury typically requires a significant layoff from the moment of diagnosis, it’s expected to leave her unavailable for World Cup selection though her absence has not yet been made official.
Fans of the USWNT dreaming of seeing striker Alex Morgan, possibly in her last Women’s World Cup, feasting on the service of Swanson and Macario, will not get that chance as things stand today.
The double blow leaves the USWNT without their two most electric young attackers. The 23-year-old…
