Greece survived a first-half scare to rally for a 2-1 win over Latvia on Friday in the two teams' opening Group G qualifier for the 2014 World Cup.
A lackluster Greece trailed by a goal after a rain-soaked first half, but came out in the second half with more aggressive play. Nikos Spyropoulos equalized in the 57th minute with a shot from 10 meters (yards) out that beat Latvian goalkeeper Andris Vanins in the bottom right corner.
Fanis Gekas put the Group G favorite ahead 12 minutes later after a smart pass from Kostas Katsouranis just outside Latvia's penalty area.
Aleksandrs Cauna scored Latvia's opener on a penalty kick in the 41st minute after Aleksejs Visnakovs had been tripped by Kyriakos Papadopoulos in the area after dribbling around the Greek defender.
