France beat Greece 1-0

Saint-Denis, France:

Thierry Henry scored his 39th international goal on Wednesday to lead France to a 1-0 win over Greece in a friendly match. Henry dived low at the far post to head in a cross in the 27th minute at the Stade de France. The Arsenal striker is now only two goals behind Michel Platini's French record of 41. The match pitted the last two winners of the European Championship. But 2000 champion France dominated against the 2004 winner, forcing Greece goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis into making several saves. "Winning is the most important thing," France coach Raymond Domenech said. "We were safe and we managed to create chances. That's the basis of any good team." It was the first time the teams have met since Greece beat France 1-0 in the quarterfinals at Euro 2004. "Greece won the European Championship, let's not forget," Domenech said. "They have their qualities. They're a gritty team and it's not easy to play them." France captain Patrick Vieira won his 100th cap - joining Lilian Thuram, Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps and Marcel Desailly as the only players to reach that milestone for France. France created a chance within 45 seconds when Florent Malouda crossed from the left and Louis Saha's attempted scissors kick went wide. Vieira headed over a cross from Willy Sagnol in the 13th, while Malouda headed wide in the 20th from Henry's pass. France goalkeeper Gregory Coupet punched away a shot from Georgios Karagounis between the two headed misses. France made the breakthrough when a low cross from Sagnol was deflected and Henry beat Nikopolidis to the ball to head inside the left post. Vieira, Malouda and Saha had further chances to score before halftime. "We were very solid, but I would have liked another goal," Domenech said. In a second half of few chances, Sylvain Wiltord and Henry went close. Nicolas Anelka almost scored in the 87th when he beat his marker, but his hard shot was too close to Nikopolidis. Greek midfielder Angelos Basinas missed a chance to equalise in the 85th. Greece coach Otto Rehhagel was unhappy with the way his team played. "We did not match them tonight," Rehhagel said. "Every time we won the ball we just gave it away again. We made it easier for them, but they are a class team and move the ball forward well." (AP)