Catarina Macario is back - now the USWNT can build around their attacking difference-maker

The nightmare began all the way back in 2022.

It was Lyon's final game of the 2021-22 season, a 4-0 domination of Issy on June 1 of that year. The league was already in the bag. They'd won it three days earlier by beating Paris Saint-Germain. It was time to celebrate the season with one more big performance. Macario lasted just 13 minutes. She was stretchered off, later confirming the worst a few days later: a torn ACL.

So much has happened since. Macario switched clubs, joining Chelsea this past summer. She missed dozens of games for club and country. Most notably, though, she missed the World Cup. It's hard not to wonder what could have been. What would the USWNT have looked like with a creator like Macario on the field?

Ultimately, she wasn't there, and the U.S. fell short. Their Round of 16 elimination at the hands of Sweden was their worst-ever World Cup finish. Macario could only watch on helplessly.

"You need to take things into perspective," Macario said, "and I feel like everything works out for a reason. I think the way that I've been able to cope has just been really leaning on my support system, like my friends and family. They've come and visited me, and that helped a lot. It was actually quite sunny over the summer in London, which helped a lot! It felt like it was a little bit back home in San Diego or Brazil!

"It's just trying to focus on the little bit of things that I could control. Obviously, it did take a lot longer than I expected, which was devastating. The most important thing is that now I'm back and I hope that I can contribute to the team as much as possible."

They say every cloud has a silver lining. Yes, even two years of injury rehab. Macario's long layoff offered her the opportunity to do something she hadn't really gotten to do in the few years prior: breathe.

This past summer was nice. Having moved to London to join Chelsea in June, Macario was given some time to settle in. Not through choice, of course. She'd much rather have been playing from the start. But, when you can't play and you're alone in a big new city, it is quite tempting to explore.

"What I've been able to enjoy the most is that, when I got there, obviously I wasn't playing so I got to experience London a little bit as a tourist," she said. "That was like, really fun. I had a lot of friends and family come visit me which definitely made the time go by faster. I just got to explore the city a little bit, go to a few like jazz clubs or like comedy clubs or just see a few musicals, which are things that I love. That's what Cat the person likes to do. That was something that I found really fun and entertaining and it just has made me very happy."

When asked about those musicals, Macario admitted that she's seen Hamilton twice. "Highly recommend," she says. Lion King, Les Miserables and Matilda are also among her favorites.

But tourist time is over. Macario is now solely focused on recreating herself on the field.

Macario begins by giving all credit to Chelsea. How many clubs would sign a player dealing with an ACL tear? How many clubs would give her the grace and resources to recover in a way that's best for her, not the club?

She's only just gotten there, but Macario already feels pretty at home in Chelsea blue.

Macario scored in that first match back in March, announcing to the rest of the world that she was ready to go. She then came off the bench to score the winner in a 1-0 FA Cup win over Everton. And then, in the Champions League, Macario provided a fine assist to continue her comeback.

"I obviously knew that I had been working towards that for a while, " she began, "but I think probably the biggest thing was just getting over that mental hurdle that was like, 'Okay, I'm good to play again, I got this'. You just have to rip off the band-aid, I guess. It all just really felt surreal, and to have
scored, I was not expecting that at all! I was just like, 'Well, I'm just happy to be on the pitch again and to be with my teammates', and then when that happens, I'm like, 'Oh, my God!'

"That's kind of how I feel for the national team as well. Obviously it's a it's a huge honor to represent the U.S. and to wear the jersey. I feel like I'm just grateful, above everything, just to be here again. I just hope to do well and to make a good impact."

The SheBelieves Cup is massive for the USWNT. Not only is it crucial for Olympic prep. Not only is there a trophy on the line. It's also the return of two USWNT stars - both of whom could start at the Olympics this summer.

Macario is one, of course. There's a chance she steps right into the XI to provide that creative spark the U.S. lacked at the World Cup. Macario could have been the team's secret weapon last summer, and she still could be this summer.

The USWNT attack is stacked. Some combination of Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, Jaedyn Shaw and Alex Morgan will likely be the starters. Could Macario get in? Possibly... perhaps as a No.10 ahead of two holding midfielders or perhaps in one of those wider spots as a playmaking winger. Macario's ability to make things happen could be vital to a U.S. team that lacked that ability this past summer.

The other returnee could be huge, too. Mal Swanson is back as well, one year after her own devastating injury. Just months before the World Cup, the winger tore the patellar tendon in her left knee, knocking her out for the past 12 months.

She recently returned herself, scoring for the Chicago Red Stars. Swanson is another player that could be massive for the USWNT attack. She very well could come for one of those wing spots, reclaiming what was lost when she went down a year ago.

"There are no words to describe how good Mal is," Macario said. "Honestly, she makes us so much better. She's the type of player that you always want to play with. Even though I got injured a little bit before her, I was just absolutely gutted for her because she was really in the form of her life leading up to the World Cup, and I have no doubt that she'll get there again.

"We'll hopefully be slicing and dicing the competition again soon."

When fit, Macario is the type of player that the U.S. can build around. She's a generational attacking midfielder, one that, at just 24, is only scratching the surface of her potential.

In her last full season with Lyon, she scored 22 goals in 33 games in all competitions to headline a Champions League-winning campaign. Her last real run with the USWNT in 2022 saw her score five goals in as many games, earning the Best Player award at the SheBelieves Cup that year.

There's no doubt that the U.S. is a better team with Macario on it; it's just that that fact has been lost because it's been so long since we've seen that version of this group. So many new faces have entered the fold, such as Rodman and Shaw, while Macario has been sidelined.

Eventually, Macario will be given her chance to earn a starting role. At her best, she almost certainly deserves it. For the time being, though, interim head coach Twila Kilgore will likely be taking it easy on her. She only has a few games under her belt. The time will come, but it probably isn't right now.

"In terms of loading, I kind of let the experts deal with that," Macario said. "They tell me the plan. I know that Chelsea and U.S. Soccer, they're basically having meetings all the time to just try and figure out the right way to manage me in order to allow me to be in this environment for as long as possible. Considering that I have been out for so long, we do have to take certain things into consideration. I kind of take it day by day, and I'm currently just enjoying being back with my teammates and I'm just hoping that we can have a good game in on Saturday against Japan."

Unfortunately for Kilgore, she probably won't be the coach to unleash Macario. She'll be the one managing her minutes so that, when she leaves, the new USWNT boss walks in with Macario ready for more.

The good news is that the next USWNT boss has been the one managing this recovery all along.

When asked to describe Emma Hayes, Macario ended her answer with a simple statement: "Oh, you'll find out soon enough!"

Macario has been working under the future USNWT boss since arriving at Chelsea, which will only make this transition back to the national team even easier. Hayes has been the one managing Macario's recovery, helping her with the big and small steps that have allowed her to get back to full fitness.

Hayes is "quite the character" Macario says. She's loveable and fun and personable. She's also sat Macario down at times when she needed a more stern response.

"We've had a few hard conversations sometimes when perhaps I was not making the best decisions," Macario recalls. "She definitely has given me a lot of like tough love, which I really appreciate."

Hayes, meanwhile, has already begun to hear the jokes from Macario. The road to the Olympics is wide open... only Hayes can really stand in the midfielder's way.

“Cat is one of the most popular people in our dressing room, she’s so likeable, she’s so charming and charismatic," Hayes said of Macario recently. "She’s actually getting a little cheekier, I’ve noticed in the last few days, she had to fill out this form to be included in an Olympic roster and she said: ‘Now all you have to do is pick me!’ But Cat is someone who is not 100% yet, but she’s not far away from starting a game.”

On the other side of that, Hayes is going to be a hit with the U.S., Macario says, an outsider and an insider combined that can really change the program from the very top.

"She's quite the character, I'll say that!" Macario says with a laugh. "She's just a serial winner. I feel like she challenges us every single day and I do feel like she will make our national team even better. She does bring a different perspective coming from Europe, and she has been here in the US as well before so that's something nice that I think we can implement into our game.

"I feel like she just really takes care of the little things that come with winning and just dominating the game, not only just those two hours that we are on the pitch. I do feel like she focuses on so many things, honestly, things that I sometimes never even imagined. I feel like that's what makes her the best.

"She has an incredible personality that I'm sure you guys will love... You'll find out soon enough!"

The world will find out soon, too. The Hayes tenure is getting set to begin. The soon-to-be-ex-Chelsea boss arrives this summer to usher in a new era for the national team.

And there's a pretty good chance that Macario is one of the faces of that era. It'll take some time, but it begins this Saturday against Japan. After two years out, Macario is back and finally ready to become the USWNT star everyone knows she can be.