Greece have gone joint-top of Euro 2012 qualifying group F after a comfortable 1-0 win over Latvia in Athens on Friday.

The home side dominated the game against an unadventurous Latvian team and should have won by a more comfortable margin. However, Latvia rarely threatened and a home win rarely looked in doubt even though it took Greece until the second half to score the winning goal through Vassilis Torosidis.

Greece began the game with an unfamiliar forward triumverate of Panathinaikos winger Sotiris Ninis, playing down the right, Olympiakos striker Costas Mitroglou, who has hardly featured for his club side, down the middle and Celtic forward Giorgos Samaras, who passed a late fitness test, on the right.

Captain Giorgos Karagounis, who was given a special award before the game, which marked his 100th game for the national team, provided the creativity in midfield with Panathinaikos teammate Costas Katsouranis assisting him in a more defensive role alongside Racing Santander’s Alexandros Tziolis.

In defence, Giorgos Tzavelas held on to the right back spot after an impressive display in Croatia. Vassilis Torosidis started on the left with Sokratis

Papastathopoulos and Avraam Papadopoulos in the center. Michalis Sifakis continued in goal.

Greece looked much more switched on for this game than their last home match against Georgia, forcing a corner in the first minute.

But it was not until 15 minutes had passed that the first chance came, when Mitroglou saw a looping header tipped over by Andris Vanins. A minute later, Ninis sent a first-time volley from a Samaras cross into the side netting.

In the 23rd minute, Torosidis saw his powerful shot from outside the area parried by Vanins but none of the Greek players could follow up.
The stats for the first 25 minutes showed that Greece had 73 percent of the possession.

The chances continued to flow throughout the first half but Greece’s frustration also grew, as Torosidis was denied a penalty in the 26th minute when he looked to have been tripped in the box.

Referee Fernando Manuel Santos deemed that the full back had dived and gave him a yellow card, which means that he will miss Greece’s next game, at home against Israel on Tuesday.

Two minutes later, Ninis forced Vanins to make another good save as he tipped the winger’s volley around the post.

Greece then went threw a quiet period, unable to convert possession into chances.

Latvia’s only threat came two minutes before half time when Maris Verpakovskis capitalised on an error by Papadopoulos but was tackled by Tzavelas as he sped into the box.

Greece continued with their patient build-up in the second half as Latvia stuck to their ultra-defensive tactics.

Karagounis saw a shot rise over the bar in the 54th minute but Greece only had to wait four more minutes for the opening goal. It was worth the wait, Torosidis came in off the right wing and weaved past two Latvian defenders before playing a one-two with Katsouranis on the edge of the box and curling a fine shot into the corner of the goal.

Two minutes later, Karagounis tried his luck a couple of minutes later from some distance but saw his blistering shot go narrowly wide.

In the 64th minute, Torosidis sent in a teasing cross, which Mitroglou almost connected with.

Greece continued to create chances: Katsouranis saw his clever flick on at a corner spin wide while Mitroglou was released into the box after some neat play but blasted his shot wide.

Latvia’s only response was in the 70th minute when the visitors broke away and Verpakovskis saw his shot blocked on the edge of the penalty area. At that stage, the stats showed that Greece had 75 percent of the possession during the game.

Mitroglou came close to making it 2-0 on two occasions in the next few minutes but both times came up just short. The Olympiakos striker was substituted in the 78th minute with PAOK’s Dimitris Salpigidis replacing him.

It signaled the moment that Greece began to east up, probably with Tuesday’s game against Israel on their mind. Santos made two further substations as his team saw out the closing minutes.

In the 83rd minute Olympiakos youngster Yiannis Fetfatzidis came on for his senior international debut, replacing Ninis. Just before the final whistle,

Karagounis also went off and Pantelis Kafes came on in his place. It was a sign of the visitors dominance that Greece had 24 shots to Latvia’s 5 and won 10 corners to the visitors’ 1.

Santos can expect a much tougher task against Israel and will not have Torosidis to call on – the only major negative to come out of Friday’s game.