After the United States Women’s National Team began their 2021 campaign with convincing 4-0 win on Monday, the team followed it up with an even more dominant 6-0 drubbing against the Colombia National Team on Friday night at Exploria Stadium.

“We started working from the October camp on, starting tweaking the way we’re defending a little bit, which I think that it seems like we’re moving in the right direction,” USWNT Head Coach Vlatko Andonovski said after the match. “At least the stats show that we’re moving in the right direction. I still feel like there are things that we can get better at. But then on the other side, I feel like we are able to create more opportunities, or we’re creating a lot of opportunities we you know we did it against Holland in Holland, we did it now in these two games. We’re just getting closer to the final touch, the final piece, and just capitalizing on all these opportunities.”

Five different scorers found the back of the net throughout the match, but the first was almost poetic. 22-year-old Catarina Macario, who just became eligible for the USWNT a few weeks ago, netted the first goal of her international career in the third minute. The native Brazilian came to the U.S at the age of 12 and has idolized the U.S. team growing up and in only her second match and first start, netted her first goal for the stars and stripes.

“I feel like this week I’ve had a lot of dreams come true just in a very short amount and I’m so grateful for it,” Macario said. ” I’m just trying to learn as much as I can from all of them and just, you know, I am just so happy that I actually get to play with them now and just take my game to the new level, because they’re so intense and, like, so good.”‘

The U.S. seemed to be able to capitalize on more chances through the first 45 in this match compared to Monday’s. It was almost 30 minutes after the opener that Megan Rapinoe found the second, a deflected shot that found the bottom left corner of the net to double the advantage.

Rapinoe would add a second just before half after Sam Mewis was taken down in the box and the U.S. captain expertly slotted home the penalty into the bottom right corner.

The second half started just as well for the U.S. Mewis managed to get out to a wide position and threaded a cross in for Lynn Williams to head home in the 60th minute, while substitute Lindsey Horan flicked on a corner from other sub Crystal Dunn to make it 5-0 in the 73rd.

Midge Purce added the cherry on top in the late stages of the match, flicking on a ball from Carli Lloyd to score her first goal for the USWNT in the 86th minute.

“I mean it’s just a whole big ol’ ‘you love to see it,'” Megan Rapinoe said after the match. “To have the depth that we always have in our squad, but to have that depth be youth, now, I think is huge. We did have an older squad in 2019, which I think served us well, but we have to get younger, especially thinking about what the Olympics will be. I feel like us older players I think we take a lot of pride in still being here but having this fresh infusion of blood is just great for us it keeps us young.”

In a local Orlando twist, Orlando Pride defender Ali Krieger started and played 79 minutes before being subbed out. Goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris was on the bench, but did not make an appearance.

The USWNT will now have some time off before they come back to Orlando to prepare for the SheBelieves Cup which will take place from February 18th to the 24th. All games between the U.S., Japan, Brazil and Canada will be played in Orlando at Exploria Stadium with a capacity of 4,000 allowed.

Scoring Summary

2′ – Catarina Macario (USA)

35′ – Megan Rapinoe (USA)

44′ – Megan Rapinoe (USA)

60′ – Lynn Williams (USA)

73′ – Lindsey Horan (USA)

86′ – Midge Purse (USA)

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