Origi on Belgium Performance: "We Underperformed"

Belgium went into this summer's Euros as a dark horse to win it all, thanks to a glut of talent in Marc Wilmots’ first team. However, their opening game on Monday was a disappointment, with the team falling tamely to the Italians 2-0. More disappointing than the score was the team's performance, which failed to live up to expectations.

Origi is behind Romelu Lukaku in the pecking order, but he did come on to replace the Everton front man with 17 minutes left to play.

Regarding their timid outing, Origi said, "I think we just underperformed. In football that can happen but in a tournament you can’t have too many bad days because then you can’t go through. Now we have to be ready for the next game.

"We know it will be tough because we have a lot of respect for Ireland and we’ll have to look at how we play the game tactically. It’s going to be an important game for us. We have to be ready. After the loss against Italy we’re obviously disappointed but we know that Ireland are a good team and we’ll have to be at 100% to beat them, that’s for sure."

Origi and Belgium have their next opportunity to prove themselves on Saturday when they take on the Republic of Ireland in Bordeaux.