New faces and veteran players combine to make the difference as the USWNT start pursuit of an eighth SheBelieves Cup title with a 2-0 victory
Ally Sentnor couldn't stop smiling. Even during her postgame interview, nearly an hour after her big "Welcome to the U.S. women's national team moment" the Utah Royals star couldn't help but laugh. She felt it, just as everyone who saw her stunning goal on Thursday night did – this was an arrival, and Sentnor arrived in style.
The young attacker's long-range goal sealed the USWNT's 2-0 win over Colombia in the SheBelieves Cup in Houston, a victory that was at least partly defined by Sentnor's big moment. She was a standout, but far from the only one. To her credit, she gained the most from the performance she put in in her first international start.
"Honestly, it was just a blast being out there," she told TNT after the match, "and I think we created so many chances. It was just incredible to play with that front line. And I got an opportunity at goal, and kind of just took it, and I was so ecstatic when it went in. But it's just a credit to this team that has really embraced me and allowed me to be my true self on the field."
The others that stepped up? Familiar faces. Catarina Macario was back on the scoresheet, finally, scoring her first USWNT goal in nearly three years, battling back from injury after injury. Lily Yohannes is a new face, yes, just 17, but her performance showed why she's one of the most hyped prospects this national team has seen. Both raised their stocks on Thursday, but both were already pretty high on the depth chart.
Sentnor might move up a few spots now, too. Goals like that will do that for you. It's one she won't ever forget, and also one that both USWNT fans and coach Emma Hayes will also remember going forward.
GOAL breaks down the winners and losers from Shell Energy Stadium.
Getty Images SportWINNER: Catarina Macario
Back? It was like she never left. It wasn't just the goal in the 34th minute, although that was a great moment. More broadly, it was that this was Macario at her best: confident, free-flowing and dangerous.
There was a sequence early in the second half in which she spun a defender in circles to create a chance. That was the Macario fans want to see and, for the first time in a long time – the first goal in nearly three injury-plagued years that she's scored for the USWNT, in fact – that the Macario was able to play near her best.
Both the USWNT and Chelsea are still building her up. There's no need to rush, particularly with her injury history. This game showed, though, that Macario is still a special player, one that is still a game-changer in a USWNT group full of them.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportLOSER: Linda Caicedo
The Real Madrid teenager is arguably the best young player in the world. We saw glimpses of it, but they were few and far between.
Colombia's young star never quite got loose as the USWNT defense kept her relatively locked down. There were a few moments when she threatened to break out, but the U.S. largely contained them. It's not that Caicedo was bad, exactly, because she wasn't – but to win this game, Colombia needed Caicedo to be special. She wasn't that.
She'll get more chances to show that, including two more this week. Colombia will need her at her best.
Getty Images SportWINNER: Lily Yohannes
The young player is simply special. There's no other way to say it after what she showed on Thursday. Put into the heart of the USWNT midfield, the 17-year-old Ajax starlet ran the midfield, pinging passes all over the field that few in the world can.
It was her long ball that opened up the game for the USWNT's first goal. She played several more just like it which could have led to even more. Yohannes, even at 17, is a different type of player. She is almost too calm, too composed, too unfazed. All in a good way.
On Thursday, the teenager made her first USWNT start, and It certainly won't be the last. Yohannes is just at the beginning of her journey, and that's an intimidating thought for opponents after the performance she turned in.
Getty Images SportLOSER: Jane Campbell
This was no knock on her. She was fine. It's just that she had so few moments to actually do much of anything. Yes, she had a clean sheet. But when you're a goalkeeper fighting for as starting spot, you want a few big saves and a few moments to show what you can do. There were none of those for Campbell Thursday.
This was more of a warmup than a full performance. There was no diving save, no smart reading of a one-on-one. Campbell just had so little to do on Thursday, which is both great for the USWNT defense and, in some ways, disappointing for her.
Still, it was a cool moment for her to be in the starting lineup. Campbell has been fighting for a chance for years, and she got this one at her home stadium in Houston. There will be more to come. Maybe in those she can show more of what she can do in goal.