Emile Mpenza is mobbed after hitting Belgium's second against Sweden (GaryMPrior/Allsport)

But also on show was a candidate for goalkeeping blunder of the season from Belgium's Filip de Wilde which handed Johan Mjallby a goal of gift-wrapped proportions.

Just to complete the lesson Sweden's Patrik Andersson was sent off for a reckless lunge on Goor which brought about his second yellow card.

But if this tournament throws up as much action and excitement in each of its 31 games as it did in the second half in the King Baudouin stadium tonight then we are in for a feast of entertainment.

So often the opening match of a major tournament is high in expectation and pitifully low in final product. There is so far to go, so much to lose - the emphasis is on not losing rather than going all out to win.

That charge could not be aimed at the Belgians for whom this match was the chance to prove that as co-hosts they are not the junior partners in Euro 2000 - that they can provide a spectacular, organised and trouble-free start to a championship about which the doom-mongers have been predicting carnage for weeks.

Even more important it was in some small way an opportunity, 15 years on, to heal some of the scars of Heysel - the stadium in which 39 lives were lost as fighting broke out before the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus.

Today the stadium has been renamed; the austere arena has been extensively refurbished and marked by four enormous concrete floodlight pillars which rise out of the ground at an angle like the antennae of a giant insect.

It has a state-of-the-art feel, and Belgium were desperate to match it with the majesty of their football.

The 11-minute opening ceremony, which had been 18 months in conception, certainly hit a spectacular note with a 15 metre tall inflatable giant and a football eight metres in diameter inflated with helium.

But the football in a scrappy and frantic first half was anything but light and frothy.

It was tense and strewn with the mistakes so often seen when two sides are desperate to create a good first impression but equally intent on giving little away.

As it was Kennet Andersson, the tall Swedish striker, should have given his side the lead after just seven minutes, losing his marker at a corner only to put his free header agonisingly wide of the post.

But if Sweden had the first chance then it was Belgium, driven forward at the constant urging of the home crowd, who not surprisingly enjoyed the largest share of the possession.

Unfortunately most of the chances fell to Derby County's Branko Strupar, who had hit five goals in eight internationals since deciding to opt for Belgium ahead of his native Croatia but who was having one of those games when Swedish goalkeeper Magnus Hedman could literally have lit a cigarette before saving the weakest of shots.

But just when it seemed Strupar could not have hit the giant atomium - a concrete molecule magnified 167 billion times - which stands magnificently outside this stadium, Belgium took the lead.

And who should make the fateful error but Roland Nilsson - the former Sheffield Wednesday defender.

He dallied on the ball just outside the penalty area, allowing Goor to bustle him off the ball, race into the area and slide a firm shot past Hedman.

It was justice for Belgium's greater effort and adventure.

But if that was sweet for the hosts then Emile Mpenza made it even sweeter just after the interval.

This time Mpenza - a darting menace all night - latched on to a loose ball down the left, and there was only one thought in his mind.

He surged into the Swedish penalty area and hit an unstoppable volley high into the net to put Belgium two clear - and the roar might have been heard in Amsterdam.

That should have been it. But four minutes later, with Celtic's Henrik Larsson having replaced Jorgen Pettersson, Sweden were back in the match after a quite bizarre goal.

The ball was played back to Belgium goalkeeper Filip de Wilde, who clearly took his eye off the ball and let it drift underneath his foot.

To his dismay there was Swedish striker Johan Mjallby to nick the ball past de Wilde and run the ball into the empty net.

Suddenly, a match which had taken so long to warm up was snapping and crackling on the cool night air of this cultured city. Sweden were back in it - and they might have drawn level.

Arsenal's Fredrik Ljungberg was everywhere as he tried to inspire the Swedes for the equaliser, and Mjallby might have nicked it with another good header turned over by de Wilde.

But, in truth, it would not have been justice. Belgium were good value for their victory, which gives them the edge over Sweden - both having won five each in 12 previous meetings.