Who is Catarina Macario? USWNT and Lyon star taking Champions League, soccer world by storm

With the U.S. women’s national team’s old guard of Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Christen Press now approaching its international twilight — and the USA’s third-best all-time scorer Carli Lloyd retiring in 2021 — the USWNT has been searching for a new young attacking star to grab the reins.

USWNT manager Vlatko Andonovski may now have found his talisman.

Catarina Macario, 22, is taking the international soccer world by storm over the past few years, and has developed into one of the deadliest attackers in the world. With the versatility to play as an attacking midfielder or central striker, Macario is as dangerous as any goalscorer on the planet.

The Sporting News brings you all you need to know about the next big USWNT superstar.

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Who is Catarina Macario?

Born in San Luis, Brazil, Catarina Macario began playing football at age four with local club Flamengo. She moved to Brasilia at age seven and joined the Santos youth program before moving to the United States at age 12.

Settling in San Diego, California, Macario played for the San Diego Surf and broke the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) goalscoring record during her time there.

She committed to play soccer at Stanford University, scoring 17 goals and assisting 16 more in 25 matches as a freshman in 2017, earning Pac-12 Forward of the Year, and ESPNW Player of the Year.

She won the MAC Hermann Trophy as the top player in the nation as both a sophomore and junior, becoming the sixth repeat winner in the award’s 31-year history. She led Stanford to two national championships, in 2017 and 2019.

Macario decided to forgo her senior year of college, signing with Olympique Lyonnais in January, 2021 and she made her debut shortly after in early February. Since then, she has been one of the most electric players in the world for both club and country, acquiring her U.S. citizenship and debuting for the USWNT on January 18, 2021 at 21 years old. In the process, she became the first naturalized citizen to ever play for the U.S. women’s senior side.

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Catarina Macario’s style of play

The young American international is an incredibly skillful and versatile player who can be deployed in multiple roles in multiple areas of the pitch. That skill set has made her extremely valuable for both club and country.

Her goalscoring prowess has been on full display, proving she can score from close range or from distance, and with either foot or her head. But that’s only one facet of her game.

Macario is a world-class dribbler, able to create chances on the ball both for herself and teammates. She sits in the 97th percentile of dribblers in Europe with 2.52 per 90 minutes, according to StatsBomb.

Fancy feet from @catarinamacario to turn and get the goal!

We love to see it, don’t we @USWNT fans? 🇺🇸🔥 #WatchWithAta #D1Arkema pic.twitter.com/EqRsxxZesV

— ata football (@atafball) April 30, 2021

StatsBomb also notes that she’s active off the ball, in the 94th percentile of pressing forwards across Europe. That helps her regain the ball in dangerous areas and start quick attacks with the opponent out of position.

Catarina Macario trophies won

Trophies with Stanford

*Won on penalties

Trophies with Lyon

Trophies with USWNT

Catarina Macario USWNT goals

In total, Catarina Macario has 17 international caps for the United States, making her debut on January 18, 2021 and scoring her first goal three days later. She has already collected eight total international goals for the United States.

While it took some time for a young Macario to find her shooting boots at the international level, the Brazilian-born striker has since blossomed into a full-fledged goalscoring machine.

Macario scored just one goal in her first nine international caps for the United States, but has seven goals across her last eight.

CATARINA MACARIO GOLAZO 🔥 #SheBelievesCup pic.twitter.com/MPXx08FEDe

— ESPN (@espn) February 24, 2022

Catarina Macario goal for Lyon, Stanford

Macario Stanford stats

Catarina Macario was a two-time national champion at Stanford, and won the MAC Hermann Award as the nation’s best player twice.

Macario logged one of the greatest individual performances in the history of the NCAA Tournament in the first round of the 2019 competition, scoring four goals and assisting five more in a 15-0 win over Prairie View A&M.

*Won NCAA national championship

Macario Olympique Lyonnais stats

Since joining Lyon in January, 2021, Macario has built herself into an everyday starter for a Champions League title contender.

Macario turned on the jets towards the back end of the 2021-22 campaign, scoring in eight straight matches for club and country from March 18 to April 24, bagging four goals in the Champions League, four in Ligue 1 play, and three more for the USWNT in that time.

Sheeeeesh! 🔥 Catarina Macario with the sauce on Lyon’s third goal! #LYOvJUV | 3-0 | #UWCL pic.twitter.com/VvlMyvd4vJ

— The Equalizer (@EqualizerSoccer) March 31, 2022