Of all the players making a name for themselves in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Catalina Usme might be the most surprising one.
Usme is, after all, not a fresh-faced youth, at least not in the world of fútbol. Instead, the 33-year-old from Rionegro, Antioquia is a veteran of many years with the Colombia women’s national team. She is also Colombia’s all-time leading scorer, Colombia’s all-time leading scorer in World Cups, the all-time leading scorer for Colombian fútbol in general, has had 3 appearances in a World Cup, and has won a Panamerican medal.
Basically, she’s someone whose name you should know about all year long and not just when she’s playing at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Usme, who scored the qualifying goal against Jamaica that sent Colombia to the quarterfinals, has a history of big goals, and just goals in general. She’s also someone who has always had fútbol.
In an interview with FIFA, Usme said, “I remember very strongly when I told my mother that I wanted to be a professional soccer player. And she said to me, “But how, if women’s soccer doesn’t exist?” Usme followed that up by saying that if she played, then it had to exist. And she took that with her as she worked on her education and training. “I studied and worked because I had to eat. All of that led me to a lot of situations that made me grow as a person and in the long run that led to my team.”
The forward, who plays for America de Cali in the Colombian professional female league, is not just all the things mentioned in the tweet above either. She is also the all-time leading goal scorer in the Copa Libertadores Femenina and the Liga Profesional Femenina Colombiana. And in 2021, she was nominated as the best player of 2021 by IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics), the first and only time a Colombian woman has been included on the list.
And if Usme is to be believed, this isn’t the ceiling for a Colombia team that faces a big match against England on Saturday (August 12), as they look to advance to the FIFA Women’s World Cup semifinals. They’ve already made history by being in the quarterfinals in the first place, but this team and Usme, their captain, are anything but happy with just making it this far.
“The task is not over,” Usme said after the win over Jamaica. “On Saturday against England, we have a new final and we are going to prepare to face it in the best way. We are happy, but there is still work to be done”.
“This cannot be our ceiling,” she added. “We’ve won four of seven finals, three more to go.”
See Colombia’s quarterfinal match against England on Saturday at 6:30ET.
