Ireland lost 4-2 to Olympic champions Belgium on Monday.
Ireland men’s head coach Mark Tumilty has vowed his team will not settle for a draw in Wednesday’s crucial Olympic qualifier in Valencia.
On Monday, Ireland lost 4-2 to Olympic champions Belgium. In other words, if they draw with Japan, they can advance to the semi-finals of the qualifying tournament. The top three teams in the eight-team competition will qualify for Paris 2024.
Former Banbridge coach Tumilty said: “We have our final pool match against Japan coming up, but there’s no point in sitting back and waiting for a draw. “We need to play aggressive hockey.”
“Ukraine showed that by attacking Japan from the start. They had a 2-0 lead so they could be vulnerable early on and that gave us a good opportunity. ”
On Monday, Felix Denayer gave Belgium the lead in the 13th minute. Alexander Hendricks extended Belgium’s lead to 2-0 with a penalty corner in the 25th minute, and Ben Johnson scored from open play a minute later.
However, Ireland’s hopes of a comeback were dashed just before the end of the first half when William Ghislain scored from open play, making it 3-1.
Belgium extended their lead with a goal from Thibault Stockburgs in the 32nd minute, before Matthew Nelson equalized late on.