Right now I'm watching some stupid baseball game that doesn't matter to anyone while the United States is trying to qualify for the World Cup!!!! ESPN, why do you hate me so much? For the love of all that is holy, please turn off this boring mid season baseball crap and put the match on!!! please!

Ryan Giggs, the stand out of last Sunday's Manchester United match against a very plucky Newcastle in spite of his advancing years (in football terms of course), has set off the alarm for the rest of his Red Devil mates.

According to a report in the Guardian, Giggs told his team mates that they must match Chelsea's hunger if they are to successfully defend their Premier League title.

The article quotes Giggsy saying, "Chelsea did not win the Premier League last year...I have been in that position. You are hungry and determined, and you want to win it, simple as that. We have got to match their determination, their hunger and their desire. But we have players at the club who have tasted success over the last couple of years and want more."

Read the full article at the Guardian.

Atlanta Silverbacks are off to the Great White North to take on Montreal Impact tonight in a match that should help the Backs push closer to securing a playoff spot.

Impact will be looking to play spoiler though on their home field and could use a win to help them climb out of 9th position in the table.

According to the Silverbacks Press Release pre match analysis, "Montreal boasts one of the most balanced attacks in the league; the team has had a remarkable 12 players score goals this year, second only to the Puerto Rico Islanders. Yet, the Impact have scored the fewest goals in the league (19) and are still looking to find a consistent scorer. Montreal traded for forward Charles Gbeke earlier in the year, but he has only been able to put away one goal in 12 games played.

Atlanta’s offense ranks second in the league with 33 goals scored, but the team will be without top striker Macoumba Kandji. Atlanta has also been able to only net two goals in their last three matches, being on the receiving end of a shutout twice. Newly acquired forward Aaron Paye made his debut with the Silverbacks last Saturday against the Charleston Battery and played the final 70 minutes of the match after replacing an injured Kandji, and he will look to put the offense back on track."

Let's hope Atlanta can create offense without Kandji. Kick off is at 7:30PM Eastern, and if any Backs fans are there, please send us your match report. Thanks!!

The Yanks have a chance to start building on a decent international Olympic performance as the full side resumes in World Cup qualifying tomorrow in Guatemala.

The match will be broadcast live on ESPN2 at 10:00PM Eastern.

According to US Soccer, "the team traveled from Miami to Guatemala City on Monday afternoon where they were met by team captain Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu. The U.S. will train in the stadium Tuesday evening, just over 24 hours from kickoff."

Sorry for the long title there - but this one should be a firecracker. Of course this is the U23 version of this South American derby, so it doesn't quite carry the significance of a World Cup qualifier, but both sides are wearing National Team colors and I suspect will be pushing at all costs for the opportunity to face Nigeria for Gold.

While both sides did bring a few stars to the table - Riquelme, Messi, Ronaldinho...they are truly skeletons of their full teams.

Feel free to discuss.

This weekend was certainly packed with really exciting games and I am here to offer my thoughts on the ones that I watched.

The Blackburn/Everton game was certainly the most exciting of the weekend in my opinion. Blackburn looked very strong in the first half and Everton was lucky not to have given up more than one goal. With the amazing goal by Everton to tie the game and end the first half it seemed like this game would go until the end and that it did. Blackburn seemed to come out of the second half disheartened after giving up their lead and fell behind. However, by a miraculous resurgence they rallied to field two goals with the final coming minutes before the game ended. A strong finish from a club that will be one to watch in the coming season.

The Boro/Tottenham game was next up and what an interesting game that turned out to be. Tottenham came out strong in the beginning of the game, but without their strikers could not net a goal to save their lives. First half ended 0-0. Boro quickly controlled the second half and got the lead before Berbatov was subbed in. Boro then went up 2-0 and would have ended the game there if Spurs hadn't got a lucky own goal for the game to end 2-1. Spurs definitely need a finisher up front to get the club into a good finish which is why they are so reluctant to send Berbatov over to Manchester.

I caught the replay of the West Ham/Wigan game enough to see the fabulous goals by Dean Ashton. For a club I was unsure of after seeing them play against the MLS All Stars I have high hopes if they can keep all of their players until the trade deadline passes. Ashton looks to be one of the top strikers in the league this year and I hope he can help the Hammers improve on a disappointing end to last season.

The Liverpool/Sunderland game was pretty boring so I only caught bits and pieces of it. Sunderland's new pick ups seem to give them a fierce tenacity I was not expecting. Keane didn't seem to be all that strong in his first match with his new team and looks like some chemistry is still to develop. Torres threw in his hat to the Player of the Year race early with a spectacular strike that Sunderland's goalie had no chance with. Absolutely spectacular.

Saturday night is MLS night and that means DC United time. I was pretty worried seeing as Chicago and DC have a very heated rivalry and after the trouncing United received last week from NY I didn't have very high expectations. That all changed when Louis "Two Hands" Crayton took the net over former starter Zach Wells. (The nick name was created in the pub with all the supporters drinking so take it with a grain of salt.) The team gelled perfectly and scored on an amazing corner that was put away by Fred, a player that hadn't had a ball go even close to the goal posts in a very long time. Two things that was saddened to see though was all the diving by Chicago, especially by Mapp, and the terrible finishing by United in the last 20 minutes of the second half. It always seems to plague United that they get content with a lead and won't pressure the last 20% of the field. Something to work on before Wednesday against New England.

Speaking of New England after the DC United Match was the New England/San Jose match. Not much to say about this other than it was already 1-0 when I started watching it and left with 5 minutes left and still managed to miss a goal by San Jose. I don't think New England has lost by 4 goals all season and to be beaten like that by the last place team in the MLS must sting. Playing without Joseph, but with Twellman and Nyassi the Revs seemed to be in full strength for the most part, but could not seem to do anything right. I didn't have any audio where I was so I don't know why Matt Reis was taken out of goal, but New England's back-up goalie is absolutely abysmal. The Revs must not ask him to tend net very often and who can blame them when they have the best keeper in the MLS. That isn't to say that the Quakes weren't playing a stellar game, because they really were. Ive always held a certain affinity for them as I'm not a fan of anyone else in the west and I hope they prove everyone wrong, including myself, and make the playoffs.

By Sunday I was getting a bit saturated by soccer, but I had to see how the other United would play with a very depleted roster against a sure to be resurging Newcastle squad. What I was not expecting was how well the Magpies' goalie and defense would play against the returning EPL champions. They seemed to be playing for the tie after the 70th minute ticked by and who could blame them. Try as they might the Red Devils couldn't penetrate the net, or Martins' face, a second time and the game ended 1-1.

Later that day I watched about 30 minutes of the NY Redbulls/Toronto FC match before turning it off at halftime. It was enough to be throughly disgusted with the field they were playing on (faded soccer lines, bright white NFL lines) and how poorly each team played. The Redbulls went ahead 1-0 by an amazing pass and run with a superb finish and apparently ended the game up 2-0.

Now to get ready for this week's upcoming soccer matches which include 2 DC United games, an exhibition Viriginia Tech match (that I will be attending live) and countless EPL matches with the possibility of a Championship match.

After the first week of games, we saw a defeat for last years 3rd place team Motherwell and a win for new boys Hamilton and the old firm both winning their opening games as expected. This weeks games threw up a surprise or two and after Celtic's dubious penalty last week they were once again apart of some suspect refereeing in their game at Dundee United.

Hibs 3 - 2 Falkirk
A brace for Colin Nish helped give Mixu Paatelainen's men their first win of the season after last weeks disapointing defeat to Kilmarnock. Nish's early goal got them on their way and followed up with a second after 25 minutes with a low header after more suspect defending from the Bairns' defence. Michael Higdon's header got Falkirk back in the game 5 minutes with a powerful header. Nish had a hand in Hibs' third with a neat touch to Hanlon who made the game safe for Hibs just after the break. Higdon struck again after 53 minutes but Falkirk couldn't get an equaliser as their attacks fizzled out time after time.

Inverness CT 0 - 1 Hamilton
A Richard Offiong goal just before half time gave new boys Hamilton their second win of the season in a game which promised little and delivered even less. Both sides set our defensive stalls, Hamilton unchanged from last weeks win over Dundee United. Caley didn't get going in the first half and had were lucky not to go down a goal to an free header by Offiong. It was a mistake by the Caley defence that let in Offiong who cooly slotted past the Caly keeper. The second half had impressive performances by Adam Rooney of Caley and Simon Mensing of Hamilton who both should play a part in keeping their teams up in the SPL this season. 2 out of 2 for the Lanarkshire team.

Motherwell 0 - 1 Aberdeen
Aberdeen bounced back from their opening day defeat to get a rare away win at Fir Park. Motherwell looked the most dangerous throughout the game but their lack of firepower up front was there for all to see. Stephen Hughes looks sharp all game and his passing in the final third was ruined by a lack of movement in the motherwell box time after time. The game looked to be heading for a nil-nil draw when Aberdeen got a free kick 25 yards out, which the impressive looking Charlie Mulgrew dispatched into the bottom corner of the Well goal.

Rangers 2 - 0 Hearts
Pedro Mendes made his debut for The Gers and left quite an impression on the Ibrox faithful. After the drama of midweek this victory should steady the ship for Rangers who were rarely troubled by Hearts. They took the lead on 36 minutes with Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty getting his first goal for the club with a good finish from just inside the box. Alan McGregor made a terrific double save to keep Rangers in the lead but wasn't troubled after that. DeMarcus Beasley and Kenny Miller came on for rangers in the second half as both looked good, with Beasley rounding the hearts defence and hitting a good low cross across the six yard box but Rangers strikers were slow to respond. substitute Marius Mikoilunas lasted less than 10 minutes before a booking for a dive was followed up with a second yellow card and a dismissal for a late challenge on Kenny Miller. Rangers sealed the game with a Kris Boyd penalty after Kenny miller jinked through the Hearts defence and was brought down with the mistimed tackle by Wallace. 2 wins and 2 clean sheets for Rangers.

St mirren 0 - 0 Kilmarnock
2 of the teams tipped for relegation again this season squared off with a boring nil-nil draw a fair result. Neither team settled in this scrappy match, with both defences looked solid through out. Apart from a jim Hamilton header against the bar in the second half, a goal never looked likely from either team so it the result wasn't a surprise.

Dundee United 1- 1 Celtic
After last weeks unconvicing win over St Mirren, Celtic looked to get a win over Dundee United to really launch their defence of the SPL trophy. In an entertaining first half the United defence coped well with Celtic's attacks and could have scored through Robertson who had good chance saved by Celtic keeper Artur Boruc. The Tangerines felt they should have had a penalty when Jan Venegoor of Hesselink grabbed on to Lee Wilkie in the Celtic box but nothing was given. The second half started out well again with Celtic getting the opening goal after 50 minutes, good work from Nakamura putting Paul Hartley through with a deflected shot off Kenneth. A stonewall penatly claim was then turned down in the Celtic box again when O'Donovan was tripped by Gary Caldwell, the home fans as expected were furious. As the game approached the last ten minutes Celtic looked good for the 3 points, United had 2 decent shouts for a penalty turned down, and thier frustration was leading to scrappy play. On 80 minutes however a conway cross was met by United's new spanish siging Sandaza who equalized for the home side. A draw was a fair result in terms of the overall play but Dundee United will feel really hard done with the poor performance of the officials.

The US Women looked impressive after a slow start against Japan this morning.

Japan took an early 1-0 lead before the US shook the cobwebs out and got down to business. Heather Mitts looked great (ahem) pushing in to the attack from her right fullback position and Lori Chalupny made life miserable for Japan as well.

Once the girls got Fukumoto's number...i.e., she's a short goalkeeper and is susceptible to getting chipped, the US started to put the game away.

To Japan's credit, they played the full 90 minutes as if they were down a goal and dug out a bit of pride in the 93rd to add a goal, but that was far from enough as the the final tally stood at USA 4 Japan 2.

Now the US will face World Cup nemesis Brazil in a what should be a battle royale for the gold.

My "man" of the match, Heather Mitts.

US Soccer scores yet another export to Europe. Midfielder Maurice Edu has agreed to a five-year deal with Scottish Premier League side Glasgow Rangers.

According to the AP report, the USD5 million transfer from Toronto FC is subject to a work permit being granted.

The other interesting item here is that Edu will play alongside fellow National Teamer DaMarcus Beasley in the Rangers midfield.

We are less than an hour and half away from the US Women semi final kick-off against Japan, a team they defeated 1-0 in the run up competition while the other bracket’s match, Brazil vs. Germany is already underway.

Some say the US girls are “lucky” that the brackets worked out in a way that put them against Japan rather than the other side’s titans, but let’s face it, international football has always been peppered with a bit of luck.

Some might also argue that by entering this tournament after losing Abby Wambach to a broken leg, perhaps this bit of good fortune is just karma coming back around. Nonetheless, the US girls scraped out the victories they needed when they needed them and at the end of the day, they’ve put themselves in a great spot to challenge for the gold medal.

Kick off is at 9:00AM Eastern.