Kat Macario to miss Olympics for US due to knee injury

HARRISON, NJ – Forward Catarina Macario will miss the Olympics with what United States women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes called “knee soreness” that she developed during training this week.

Forward Lynn Williams, who competed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 2023 World Cup, will replace Macario on the USWNT’s 2024 Olympic roster.

Defender Emily Sams will take Williams’ spot as one of the USWNT’s four alternates.

Sams was training with the USWNT this week. All of those moves are still pending approval from the International Olympic Committee, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and FIFA, as the final roster deadline has already passed.

“She’s devastated,” Hayes said of Macario. “This is not a long-term condition; (she) is not going to get better in time.

“I’m absolutely gutted for Kat. She’s someone who has worked hard over the last 12 months. She’s actually been put in shifts to get there, but it hasn’t happened.”

Hayes said that Macario would return to London to undergo treatment with his club and Hayes’ former club, Chelsea.

The USWNT coach said Macario had some irritability during training this week.

Hayes called the situation “complex”.

Macario tore his ACL with his old club team, Lyon, in May 2022 and was sidelined for a year and a half. She missed last year’s World Cup as a result.

In a message shared on her social media on Friday, Macario wrote that she was “disappointed to be removed from the Olympic roster and not be able to represent Team USA. I will be supporting the team every step of the way and the girls are there.” ready ❤️”

She made a comeback with Chelsea earlier this year and returned to the field for the USWNT at the SheBelieves Cup in April, her first appearance for her country in two years.

Williams said he hopes Macario makes a quick recovery.

“I think two things are possible at the same time. You can be disappointed for a teammate and excited for yourself at the same time,” he said Friday. “But right now, I’m not necessarily thinking, ‘Oh, I’m excited for myself.’ I’m thinking, ‘How can I help the team? What does the team need from me?’

“I think that was my role as a substitute in the beginning: it’s to be ready and willing when called upon. Obviously, I’m devastated for Kat.

“It’s a unique experience to be in this group. The people you’re competing with to get on a team are the people who understand the experience the most, the hardships the most. Obviously, Kat has a It will take another person to digest it, but (I’m) sending him all the love and hugs.”

Hayes insisted the team would make adjustments.

“I’ve always seen it as a ’22 and changing the rules won’t change anything,” he said. “The change is that without Kat, I have to think of some different permutations for the team, which I have already considered. For us, it is now about looking at that and making sure that every Anyone knows what those adjustments might be.”

Hayes said she would rely on Williams’ experience to help the team.

Hayes said of Williams, “I’m a straight-laced person and she’s a straight-laced person, so it works out really well.” “We’ve been really honest from the beginning. It’s great to be around her. I told her this last night: She seems really cool. She’s been here before, and I think because she’s “Being here, she’s calm and she can handle whatever it is, she’ll always remind me that her job is to make my life difficult.”

After a disappointing performance at the Women’s World Cup last summer, the United States will be heading to its first major tournament under new coach Hayes.

The former Chelsea coach has only two tuneup matches before the team’s Olympic opener against Zambia in Nice on July 25.

Olympic women’s football begins with a round-robin group stage followed by a knockout round. Women in cities across France alternate days with men’s football competitions.

The group stage will open on July 25. There are three groups of four teams.

Group A includes France, Canada, Colombia and New Zealand. Group B consists of the United States, Zambia, Germany and Australia.

Group C includes Spain, Japan, Nigeria and Brazil.

The quarterfinals are on August 3 and the semi-finals are on August 6.

The bronze medal match will be played in Lyon on August 9 and the gold medal match in Paris on August 10.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.