United States beats Colombia to open SheBelieves Cup

Catarina Macario and Ally Sentnor each scored as the United States beat Colombia 2-0 in its opening game of the SheBelieves Cup on Thursday.

Playing their first competitive games since winning gold at the 2024 Olympics, U.S. coach Emma Hayes started a side in Houston that blended veteran experience and promising young talent.

Macario opened the scoring in the 33rd minute when she pounced on Yazmeen Ryan's perfect cross in front of goal and beat Colombia keeper Katherine Tapia for her first goal in nearly three years.

The Chelsea attacker had been out of the U.S. lineup for nearly as long as her goal drought, as she battled back from a devastating knee injury in May 2022.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, the U.S. had its second goal. Sentnor picked up the ball just inside Colombia's defensive third, beat one defender and launched a shot from just under 30 yards out to make it 2-0.

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The reigning U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year celebrated enthusiastically her first career international goal with her American teammates. Sentnor nearly had a second goal in the 74th minute, but her right-footed shot was saved.

The U.S. extended its unbeaten streak to 21 matches since losing to Mexico 2-0 on Feb. 26, 2024. The U.S. has outscored its opponents 43-10 in that span with 13 clean sheets after goalkeeper Jane Campbell added another one Thursday.

Next up for the USWNT are matches against Australia on Sunday and Japan on Feb. 26 as the U.S. looks to win the SheBelieves Cup for the sixth year in a row.

In Thursday's earlier match, Japan beat Australia 4-0.