Catarina Macario and Mallory Swanson return to the USWNT, and Lily Yohannes, 16, comes aboard

U.S. national team roster announcements, whether for the men or the women, always get attention. But Tuesday’s reveal of the women’s squad ahead of next month’s SheBelieves Cup got an especially big spotlight.

The first headline: Catarina Macario and Mallory Swanson are back after excruciatingly long injury absences.

Macario hasn’t played for the national team since April 12, 2022 — at Subaru Park, of all places — because she suffered an ACL tear in her left knee just under two months later. No single U.S. player caused more “what-if” debates around last year’s World Cup than the 24-year-old forward, whose mix of playmaking and scoring skills is special.

Swanson hasn’t played for the national team since rupturing the patella tendon in her left knee during a U.S. game last April 8. The winger, who turns 26 next month, was also sorely missed at the World Cup, for her big-game experience and shooting eye from the wing.

“This is just really, really exciting to have them back,” interim U.S. manager Twila Kilgore said in a news conference Tuesday.

Both players returned to action with their clubs in recent weeks, and in quite some fashion. Macario scored for England’s Chelsea six minutes into her first game on March 3, and has two goals and two assists in five games.

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“What’s been most impressive about her as she’s come back is just the quality of her impact on a game, regardless of the amount of minutes that she’s been playing,” Kilgore said. “I know this is something that is near and dear to her, and she’s just really excited to get back in our environment.”

Swanson has started each of the Chicago Red Stars’ two games in the new NWSL season, with a combined three shots and 24-of-30 passing.

As big as Macario and Swanson’s returns are, it’s not the only headline — and in terms of the U.S. team’s long-term health, it might not be the biggest.

Kilgore and full-time-manager-in-waiting Emma Hayes pulled a rabbit out of their hats by convincing 16-year-old rising star Lily Yohannes to join this squad.

A midfield playmaker for Dutch club Ajax, Yohannes was born in northern Virginia, then moved to Amsterdam at age 10 with her family. Her talents playing with a local boys’ team were such that Ajax invited her in at age 13; she earned a spot on its women’s reserve team at 15.

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As Yohannes started playing regularly for Ajax, including in the Champions League, it was unclear whether the U.S. team was recruiting her. The Americans didn’t really need a 16-year-old right then, even one of Yohannes’ talents, with the top contenders for the World Cup pretty clear.

Nor did the Netherlands at that point, with a squad full of players at Europe’s top clubs. But they got moving soon after the tournament.

In late January, manager Andries Jonker told Dutch TV network NOS that Yohannes “has indicated that she would like to play for the Netherlands,” even though she doesn’t have a Dutch passport yet.

He said it again this past Sunday, this time to ESPN, but he also admitted he hadn’t spoken to Yohannes yet. Two days later, he got caught.

Calling Yohannes (or any dual national) into a training camp for friendlies doesn’t tie her to the U.S. program. Nor would playing in the friendlies do so. Only playing in official competitions — a World Cup, Olympics, or Concacaf regional event — would. But Kilgore knows the magnitude of this moment.

“We offered Lily an invitation to this camp and she accepted, and that’s a pretty big statement,” she said. “I think that she’s prepared to come in and do whatever is asked of her.”

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Kilgore said she’s spoken with Yohannes and her family over phone and Zoom, and has traveled to Europe to see her play in person. And she noted that Yohannes has played for the U.S. under-15 and under-16 teams before, and was recently invited to the under-17 squad but couldn’t make it because of a scheduling overlap with Ajax.

“Lily’s actually been a part of U.S. Soccer’s radar for a long time,” she said. “Had she participated, perhaps she would have gone on to World Cup qualifiers and things like that … We had the space and availability in camp to bring her in, and this was the right time to do so.”

Kilgore noted how often the U.S. men’s team has been in recruiting battles for multi-national players, and how often her colleagues have won them.

“We can look over to that side and look at how their processes have gone, what it’s been like for those players,” she said. “I’m in a position to support Lily. I think that these things are personal decisions, and I think she’s well on her way to making her decision just by accepting this invitation.”

Kilgore is pretty soft-spoken, but those words surely landed in Amsterdam with force.

As for the rest of the squad, Rose Lavelle and Lynn Williams are injured, and Becky Sauerbrunn was left out of a younger defensive group. That unit includes 21-year-old centerback Eva Gaetino, who left Notre Dame in February to join France’s Paris Saint-Germain — the same path followed by Korbin Albert a year ago.

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Goalkeepers (3): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

Defenders (8): Abby Dahlkemper (San Diego Wave), Crystal Dunn (Gotham FC), Tierna Davidson (Gotham FC), Emily Fox (Arsenal, England), Eva Gaetino (Paris Saint-Germain, France), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave), Casey Krueger (Washington Spirit), Jenna Nighswonger (Gotham FC)

Midfielders (6): Korbin Albert (Paris Saint-Germain, France), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns), Lindsey Horan (Lyon, France), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns), Emily Sonnett (Gotham FC), Lily Yohannes (Ajax, Netherlands)

Forwards (6): Catarina Macario (Chelsea, England), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns), Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars)

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This year’s tournament is a different format from years past: semifinals and a final instead of a round-robin.

The U.S. will play Japan and Canada will play Brazil in the semifinal doubleheader at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on April 6, where more than 39,000 tickets have already been sold for the Americans’ first visit since 2016. The final doubleheader is set for Columbus’ Lower.com Field on April 9.

12:30 p.m.: United States vs. Japan (TNT, Universo, Max, Peacock)

3:30 p.m.: Brazil vs. Canada (Universo, Max, Peacock)

4 p.m.: Whichever game the U.S. isn’t in, even if it’s the final (TBS, Universo, Max, Peacock)

7 p.m.: United States vs. TBD (TBS, Universo, Max, Peacock)