Greece narrowly wins the opening match against Great Britain 5:4. The Greeks led 5:0 at one stage, but Great Britain was not rewarded for a passionate fightback.

It was not the start to the tournament that the British had hoped for. Karageorgos put Greece ahead in the 8th minute, and Stephen Alvo increased the lead to 0:2 just 30 seconds later. The Greeks were extremely determined and efficient in this opening phase. Another double strike within just 11 seconds was responsible for the fact that the Lonza Arena tasted like a foregone conclusion after less than 10 minutes of play.

The favourites from Greece increased the score to 0:5 in the opening minute of the middle period, but Great Britain were then able to claim more of the play and scored their first goal of the tournament through Jason Smith in the 26th minute.

In the final third, Beasley reduced the deficit to 2:5 in the 33rd minute, but the Northern Europeans had fought their way back into the game passionately, but lacked the big opportunities to start a comeback. It was not until three minutes before the end of the game that Alfoldi brought some excitement back into the game by making it 3:5. And with 78 seconds to go, the Brits actually managed to score the equaliser to make it 4:5. A game that looked like it had a clear winner for a long time became extremely tense in the final phase, but in the end Greece managed to hold on for the first points.