Catalina Usme has given her soul, her heart and her talent to the women’s project of América de Cali. He never tires of setting individual records, but he had an outstanding debt: to give the team a star again.
This Sunday she did it, and in a leading role: she scored two goals and participated in the third, to turn around a hot final against Deportivo Cali, win 3-1 and lift the champion’s trophy again.
Catalina’s commitment to her team, to her teammates, to her fans and to her brother, Carlos Andrés, the team’s coach, is total.
Many fans of América remember that Usme got off the plane after winning the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Lima 2019, the greatest achievement in the history of Colombian women’s soccer, and Less than 24 hours later I was on the pitch dressed in red, at the Pascual and in the classic against Deportivo Cali. Of course, she arriving from the bench of substitutes.
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The goal score in the Women’s League in Colombia
Catalina is still willing to make history. The two goals she scored in this Sunday’s final against Cali left her tally at 55 goals, to establish herself as the tournament’s historic scorer and almost double those who follow her on the list, Manuela González, Joemar Guarecuco and Oriana Altuve. which stayed at 28.
But the challenge is much bigger. Catalina wants to raise a Copa Libertadores with America. He came close to doing so at the beginning of last year, when he reached the final against Ferroviaria. She is the all-time top scorer in that tournament, with 29 goals (19 with Formas Íntimas, 4 with Santa Fe and 6 with América. But she wants the collective trophy.
“One of my illusions since I arrived in America is the Copa Libertadores, I want to win a Libertadores with this institution,” he declared before the final that they just beat Cali.
This is how Catalina Usme’s career began
At 32 years old, Catalina walks the steps in a sport that she wanted since she was a child. She had to eat a lot of criticism for wanting to hit the ball. And since she was 5 years old, she was involved in a court, playing with her brothers, in her homeland, Marinilla (Antioquia).
One day he got tired of playing against the boys and asked where there was a women’s team and so, at age 14, he came to Intimate Forms. I had to travel from Marinilla to Medellín to train and that was a huge drain. But he didn’t care.
A member of a brilliant generation that still enjoys the Colombian Women’s National Team, she debuted with the senior team in 2010 and over time became the team’s top scorer: 36 goals and counting. She, although she also lived through hard times, such as the knee injury that took her out of the 2012 London Olympics.
(In other news: Women’s League: white smoke for the next edition of the tournament)
The revenge was at the 2015 World Cup, in Canada, when they reached the second phase for the first time, with a resounding victory against France, in which, of course, they scored one of the goals.
Usme likes big challenges. A Copa América is coming at home and he will surely be the leader of the National Team. And in the local League, he is celebrating again.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Sub-Editor
@josasc
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