Okay, so today I’m gonna talk about something I messed around with a while back – the 2010 US Men’s World Cup roster. It’s kinda nerdy, but stick with me.
It all started when I was watching some old soccer highlights and got curious about that team. You know, the one with Landon Donovan? I thought, “Hey, it’d be cool to dig up the actual roster and maybe see what those guys are up to now.”
First thing I did, naturally, was hit up Google. Typed in “2010 US Men’s World Cup roster,” and boom! A bunch of sites popped up. I clicked on a few that looked legit – mostly sports news sites and Wikipedia. Grabbed the names and positions of all 23 players. Nothing too fancy, just copy-pasted it all into a simple text file. Yep, good old Notepad for the win!
Next, I wanted to organize the info a bit better. The text file was just a mess. So, I fired up Excel. I know, I know, overkill for a simple list, but I like things tidy. I created columns for: Player Name, Position, Jersey Number (if I could find it), and maybe a notes section for later.
Then came the fun part – filling in the gaps. The basic info was easy, but I wanted to know what these guys were doing now. Retired? Coaching? Running a taco stand? This meant more Googling. I’d search each player’s name individually, adding terms like “current status” or “after soccer” to narrow things down.
This took a while, lemme tell ya! Some guys were easy to find – they were still in the public eye, coaching or doing commentary. Others were harder to track down. LinkedIn became my friend. I managed to find a few guys working in totally different fields, like finance or real estate. It was kinda cool to see where life had taken them.
I even tried to find their social media. Some had active Twitter or Instagram accounts. Gave me a little peek into their lives. Nothing too creepy, I swear! Just wanted to see if they still kicked a ball around every now and then.
After a few hours of digging, my spreadsheet was looking pretty good. It wasn’t perfect – some guys were still a mystery – but I had a decent overview of the 2010 squad. I felt like a proper internet detective!
So, what did I do with all this info? Honestly, not much. I just like collecting stuff like this. I saved the spreadsheet and occasionally pull it up when I’m feeling nostalgic. It’s kinda like a digital baseball card collection, but for soccer.
Things I learned:
- Google is your friend. Obvious, but still true.
- Excel is surprisingly useful for simple data organization.
- Tracking down people on the internet can be time-consuming but rewarding.
- A lot of pro athletes end up doing completely different things after their careers end.
Would I do it again?
Yeah, probably! It was a fun little project. Maybe next time I’ll tackle the 2014 team. Or maybe the women’s team. Who knows?
Anyway, that’s my story. Hope you found it somewhat interesting. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go watch some more soccer highlights. Peace out!
