United States women’s national soccer team vs. Brazil: Stanford alumna Catarina Macario scores 35 seconds in, Brazil answers to win game in stoppage time at PayPal Park in San Jose
United States women’s national soccer team vs. Brazil: Stanford alumna Catarina Macario scores 35 seconds in, Brazil answers to win game in stoppage time at PayPal Park in San Jose
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SAN JOSE — Catarina Macario didn’t wait long to make her presence felt.
The United States women’s soccer team player, a native of Brazil who moved to San Diego at age 12 and played for Stanford in college, benefitted from a long run by Alyssa Thompson, who brought the ball into the 18-yard box on an extended dribble that started all the way back inside the U.S.’ defensive half.
And when Brazil goalkeeper Natascha spilled the ball in front of goal, Macario was ready to pounce. She slotted home the opportunity 35 seconds into the game, giving the Americans a 1-0 lead.
But Brazil wasn’t done yet. After a few sloppy plays within the United States’ back end, Brazil’s Kerolin, wearing the No. 10 jersey of recently retired superstar Marta, found some space inside the U.S. box and beat American goalie Mandy McGlynn with a curling strike, tying the game 1-1 in the 24th minute.
And in the second half, Brazil took a late lead with Amanda Gutierres’ goal in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time. That late lead held up, and Brazil won the two teams’ friendly match 2-1 in front of an announced sellout crowd of 18,000 spectators at PayPal Park.
It was the first time the United States had lost to Brazil since 2014, which came at an international friendly played in Brasilia. The U.S. had just beaten Brazil 2-0 in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Despite this, U.S. coach Emma Hayes seemed relatively unconcerned about making the wrong kind of history on Tuesday night. Winning the game clearly wasn’t her biggest priority.
“It’s been a really good camp,” Hayes said after the match. “We mustn’t always measure progress by outcome. That was the youngest-capped U.S. women’s national team in 24 years. So what a great experience for them to go into a game in which we get to feel the pressure of playing a really, really difficult opponent. If I only prioritized short-term success, of course, I wouldn’t make that many changes. But I’m not making decisions for the short term.”
In keeping with that theme, Macario, who has battled injuries over the past few years, was substituted out of the game in the 58th minute. The Americans were clearly prioritizing keeping their players fresh and getting out of the game healthy, but Macario got her magic moment out of the way early with the seventh-fastest goal in the history of the U.S. women’s national team.
“The Bay Area has a very special place in my heart, especially this stadium in which I won the national championship with Stanford,” Macario said. “It was my last game here playing for Stanford, so a lot of good memories here. I’m very happy to have scored, and to be able to do that in front of the crowd, in front of my Stanford coach, some of my friends. It’s a special place, for sure.”
The sellout crowd had plenty to cheer in an exciting first half that featured end-to-end action and seemingly countless chances for the U.S. But when the halftime whistle sounded, the two teams were tied.
The Americans clearly dropped a level in the second half after a number of substitutions, including that of Macario. But it looked like they would escape with the dignity of a tie until Gutierres darted into the box and converted on an open pass from Luany two minutes before the final whistle sounded.
“As I said to the team at the end, ‘I think it’s OK to go for the winner. But I want us to have a more ruthless mentality to say if we cannot win, we do not lose.’” Hayes said. “And I felt the way we conceded the goal was really poor from us. Sometimes, you have to do some other things, and I didn’t think we did that part.”
Macario’s night went from elation to devastation over the course of 97 long minutes of action. The result may not have counted for anything ultra-meaningful, though there were mixed emotions on the United States side.
But Macario will remember her goal long past when the memory of this loss – a historic one, but not one of consequence at an international tournament – fades away.
“We never want to lose,” Macario said. “But I feel like at this point, every game is a learning opportunity. We have a very young team. We know that it’s hard to play a team back-to-back, especially a team like Brazil, and especially when we make a lot of rotations. But it’s about keeping the same standard, winning our duels. We were not good enough today doing that.
“So it’s recognizing that and getting better, and being able to show up from the very beginning and carry that on throughout the whole match.”
