Red Lion will also face New Zealand, India, Australia and Argentina in Group B. Facing a modest opponent, the reigning Olympic champions must win to launch their tournament in the best way possible.

The Red Lions created the first chances in this first quarter. They took advantage of the last two penalty corners they received but were unable to finish. Vincent Vanache, for his part, had no work to do.

At the start of the second quarter, Belgium created a few more chances and put pressure on the Irish goal, but came up against a very composed Irish defense in front of their goal. With just five minutes to go before halftime, Belgium opened the scoring through Boon, who deflected Kina's shot wide. In his stride, Vincent Vanash took the penalty corner well. The score remained 1-0 at the break.

The Red Lions controlled their lead in the third quarter and continued to attack the Irish circle. But Belgium was not concrete enough, could not break, and needed to cover it.

That's exactly what the Red Lions tried to do from the start of the fourth and final quarter. Onana's counter-attack created a penalty corner for Belgium. Hendricks, the Belgian side's house specialist who was not on the field for the first two PCs, was responsible for converting this third penalty corner. In this first meeting he gave Belgium a small reprieve. Later, Red Lions got three penalty corners but failed to score the third goal.

So the Belgians sign the first victory and start their Olympic Games in the best possible way.

Relief Belgium-Ireland: