When Catarina Macario left Brazil for San Diego at the age of 12, she came with a plan: She wanted to play soccer for the U.S.
What followed was a 10-year odyssey that took her through three age-group national teams, two youth programs, three seasons at Stanford, a citizenship test and, finally, FIFA approval to suit up for a senior game in her adopted homeland.
That final step came last week, and Macario wasted little time proving the long journey had been worth it, scoring her first goal less than three minutes into her first international start Friday in a 6-0 win over Colombia at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Fla.