In-Depth Feature

On a rainy night on Thursday in Cary, North Carolina, the U.S. women’s national team blasted 59 shots toward the goal of Saundra Baron, a 24-year-old former East Carolina University goalkeeper. The Trinidad and Tobago net minder blocked a Tim Howard-esque 15 shots and was saved by the post countless other times in a heroic performance.

And the USWNT still scored seven goals and probably should have had many more.

An upset in sports is a tale of the split-screen day. One team — the emboldened underdog — rides the highest of highs, storming the field and reveling in its victory as it has just pulled off the seemingly impossible. The other team — the deflated heavyweight — is humbled and humiliated, slumping off into the locker room and being forced to grapple with a reality it had never considered. 

November 5, 2010, was one of those split-screen days.

Mexico, the emboldened underdog. The United States, the deflated heavyweight.

His tattoos sit on the surface, superficial representations of the inner thoughts of a man praised and vilified in near equal measure. 

For the outside world, the tattoos are the only insight into the mind of someone who has reached the pinnacle of his craft by the age of 26. 

For the world of “Inked,” they are so much more.

While members of the French national team were dancing in the rain, kissing their new trophy and celebrating a well-deserved FIFA World Cup victory in Moscow on July 15, waiting for them back in the locker room was a unique surprise. 

The world watched as Croatia president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic soaked in the moment, Russian president Vladimir Putin refused to allow himself to get wet and France reveled in its second world championship.

Exactly 10 years ago Thursday, the Argentina national team won gold in soccer at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It remains as Lionel Messi’s greatest triumph at the international level. 

So what's happened to the players since?

The 2008 Argentina Olympics squad was absolutely loaded with talent. Youngsters like Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero, Ángel Di María, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Éver Banega and Pablo Zabaleta were just starting their careers. They were joined by over-age player Javier Mascherano (then just 24 himself) and led by the serene Juan Román Riquelme.