The big day has finally arrived and the Olympics are here as the Opening Ceremonies begin tonight at 8pm. But for one sport, the Games began a few days ago and the competitions are already heating up. Of course, I'm talking about soccer.

In my first Olympics as a broadcaster, I've spent the past few days studying and watching the first batch of games, preparing for the televised coverage.

Learning all of the names and players has been challenging, but even more of a challenge will be not rooting too hard for the Americans while in the studio. I still keep in touch with so many of the players and definitely give advice when asked, but they are all adults, you know what I mean? You have a few conversations with a few players, but they're professionals. They know the stakes and get it. For as much as we talk, they're also skilled at kind of attacking this. A lot of them have been there before, so they don't need my advice.

Of course, I'm sure you've already heard by now that the U.S. Women lost their opening game, 2-0 to Norway, while the American men opened yesterday with a big win over Japan.

We knew the women's game against Norway was going to be a tough test. At one time, Norway was the only country in the world that had a winning record against the U.S. That's since changed, but it's still pretty close and they are obviously a competitive team.

The top teams in the world are all in Beijing - the same culprits who are competitive in the major international tournaments - Germany, Brazil, Norway, Sweden.

The lesson I hope that has been learned is that each and every game matters in these tournaments. They're not long and drawn out, they're quick and to the point. Now the next two games are even more important - against Japan and New Zealand. Each game is going to be tough, bottom line. These top teams have to battle getting ready themselves as opposed to preparing for their opponents. Focus on fulfilling the game plan and executing it.