U.S. women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes has announced that Catarina Macario will miss the Olympics due to “minor knee irritation.”
Lynn Williams, who was named as an alternate on the Olympic roster, will move to the 18-player roster in Macario’s place, while defender Emily Sams has been named as an alternate.
Hayes said at a press conference on Friday that she is “absolutely gutted” for Macario, who will miss her second straight major tournament after also missing the World Cup last summer while recovering from a torn ACL.
The 24-year-old only returned in March from the knee injury that kept her sidelined for the better part of two years. Macario made her first USWNT appearance in two years this April, also playing in one of the team’s two friendlies against South Korea in June.
“She trained the other day, but she had some irritation leading up to that and it reacted,” Hayes said on Macario, a player she coached at Chelsea last season.
“Having been through the last 12 months with her, I know it’s complex. So her welfare comes first and as I said, she’s done everything she can and she’s devastated.”
Hayes added that the injury is “not a long-term situation, just not going to recover in time for the Olympics.”
Williams, who has been part of the USWNT at its last two major tournaments, will step into the roster in place of Macario.
“She’s been a delight to be around,” Hayes said of the NJ/NY Gotham FC winger. “She seems really calm, she’s been here before and I think because she’s been here before, she’s calm and can handle whatever’s there.”
The 31-year-old is a different player than Macario, occupying the wide areas more than the Chelsea star, who does her best work centrally.
Hayes said that with Williams swapped in for Macario, she would have to reexamine what her roster composition would look like.
“Without Cat, I have to think about some different permutations for the team,” Hayes said.
“For us, it’s about now looking towards that, and making sure that everybody else knows what those adjustments might be.”
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