Forwards Mallory Swanson and Catarina Macario returned to the United States women’s national team for the first time in a year and two years, respectively, following major knee injuries.
Both players are eligible for selection at the SheBelieves Cup, where the USWNT will play Japan on April 6 in Atlanta and either Canada or Brazil on April 9 in Columbus, Ohio.
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Joining Swanson and Macario are two first-time call-ups: 16-year-old Lily Yohannes, a midfielder at Ajax, and 21-year-old Eva Gaetino, a defender at Paris Saint-Germain. Both players started in their respective teams’ most recent UEFA Champions League quarterfinal matches.
The 19 other players called up to the U.S. roster by interim coach Twila Kilgore, in collaboration with incoming head coach Emma Hayes, all participated in the team’s recent Concacaf W Gold Cup, which the U.S. won by narrowly defeating Brazil in the final on March 10.
Macario was the focal point of former coach Vlatko Andonovski’s initial roster rebuild in early 2022, but she tore her ACL later that spring on the final day of the French season while playing with Lyon.
Macario signed with Chelsea — still coached by Hayes — last summer but endured multiple setbacks. She returned to the field earlier this month and scored in her first game for Chelsea.
“What’s been most impressive about her as she’s come back is just the quality of her impact on a game regardless of the amount of minutes that she’s been playing,” Kilgore said about Macario during a media availability Tuesday. “So, we’re really excited to get her reintegrated into our team.”
Swanson last played for the U.S. in April 2023, when she tore her left patella tendon. She scored seven goals in the USWNT’s first five games of 2023 and was expected to star at the World Cup. However, an infection following her initial surgery last year dashed any hope of returning in time for the tournament.
“I honestly didn’t even think about playing after that,” Swanson recently told “The Women’s Game” podcast. “I literally just need to feel better, because I was so sick.”
She joined the U.S. as a training player in February ahead of the Gold Cup but did not participate in the tournament. Swanson started each of the Chicago Red Stars‘ first two matches of the new National Women’s Soccer League season, her first competitive matches since the injury.
Yohannes is the youngest player to be called up to a full U.S. national team camp since 16-year-old forward Sophia Smith joined the team in April 2017. In November, Yohannes became the youngest player to ever start a UEFA Women’s Champions League match.
Yohannes joins the U.S. roster days after Netherlands coach Andries Jonker said publicly that the midfielder wanted to play for the Netherlands. Yohannes, who is not a Dutch citizen, was born in Virginia and her family moved to the Netherlands when she was 10 years old, initially for her father’s career. She began to play for Ajax and signed with the senior team as a 15-year-old last year. She previously attended camps with the under-15s and U16 U.S. national teams in recent years.
Kilgore said on Tuesday that any player’s potential decision between multiple countries is a personal and individual choice, but the interim coach noted that Yohannes is only currently eligible to play for the U.S. Kilgore said she has spoken with Yohannes and her family over the phone and on Zoom, and she has also seen her play live.
“We offered Lily an invitation to this camp, and she accepted and that’s a pretty big statement,” Kilgore said. “I think that she’s prepared to come in and do whatever is asked of her.”
Hayes has a front-row seat to Yohannes thanks to the quarterfinal pairing of Ajax and Chelsea in the Champions League. Chelsea leads 3-0 on aggregate after the first leg, with the return…
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