Vassilis Torosidis scored in the second half to give Greece a 1-0 victory over Latvia on Friday in a 2012 European Championship qualifier.
The 25-year-old defender curled the ball past goalkeeper Andris Vanins with a left-footed shot in the 58th minute after his one-two with Costas Katsouranis gave the Greeks enough space to complete the move.
Greece dominated the game but the Latvians hung on for nearly an hour in the Group F match with some frantic defending and a string of saves from Vanins. The Latvian keeper stopped a header from Costas Mitroglou in the 16th minute and a powerful shot from Sotiris Ninis in the 28th.
"We were unlucky not to get a goal earlier. But we stayed patient and the goal came," the 20-year-old Ninis said. "There's a lot of young players in the team and the atmosphere is great."
In the 43rd, defender Giorgos Tzavelas spared the hosts embarrassment, doing well to stop Maris Verpakovskis who poached the ball and sprinted toward the Greek goal - the Latvians' only clear chance in the game.
It was the first win in a qualifier for new Greece coach Fernando Santos, following draws with Georgia and Croatia.
"It was fair that we won, because we dominated every stage of the game. We had something like 25 shots, so we could have finished the game with more goals, and finishing is something we have to work on," Santos said.
The 55-year-old Portuguese coach took over this summer from Otto Rehhagel, and promised to introduce a more attacking game and use more young players.
"The team is getting stronger with every game, and of course our aim is to beat Israel (in Greece's next match)," Santos said. "The players were nervous in the first half and used up their energy for no reason. But they steadied well after the break - and that's a good sign."
Captain Giorgos Karagounis earned his 100th cap for Greece at the Karaiskaki stadium, near Athens.
Torosidis was booked for diving in the first half by Italian referee Antonio Damato, and will miss the match against Israel on Tuesday.
"The Greeks were strong and I congratulate them. My players deserve credit for defending so well," Latvia coach Aleksandrs Starkovs said. "The Greek defense didn't make any mistakes to let us in."
Lineups:
Greece: Michalis Sifakis, Avraam Papadopoulos, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Giorgos Tzavelas, Alexandros Tziolis, Giorgos Karagounis (Pantelis Kafes, 89), Vassilis Torosidis, Sotiris Ninis (Yiannis Fetfatzidis, 81), Costas Katsouranis, Georgios Samaras, Costas Mitroglou (Dimitris Salpigidis, 78).
Latvia: Andris Vanins, Oskars Klava, Vitalijs Astafjevs, Juris Laizans (Andrejs Pereplotkins, 81), Deniss Ivanovs, Aleksandrs Cauna, Maris Verpakovskis, Andrejs Rubins (Jurijs Zigajevs, 65), Kaspars Gorkss, Dzintars Zirnis, Artjoms Rudnevs (Girts Kaarlsons, 73).
