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Having already secured their passage into the Nations League quarter-finals, the Germany national team made sure of top spot in Group 3 by defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina 7-0 in Freiburg. Their tally of 13 points after five games is now unattainable for the other nations in their group. Jamal Musiala (2’), Tim Kleindienst (23’, 79’), Kai Havertz (37’), Florian Wirtz (50’, 56’) and Leroy Sane (66’) provided the goals in a rampant display.

Germany national team head coach Julian Nagelsmann made five changes from his starting XI for the previous international match against the Netherlands. These alterations were mainly the result of injuries, so there was little surprise when the line-up was announced. Jonathan Tah, Pascal Groß, Robert Andrich, Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz came in for Nico Schlotterbeck, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Angelo Stiller, Serge Gnabry and Jamie Leweling. Jonathan Tah and Antonio Rüdiger formed the central defensive pairing in front of Oliver Baumann, who started in the Germany goal for the second match in succession. Captain Joshua Kimmich and Maximilian Mittelstädt began in the wing-back positions as per usual. Robert Andrich and Pascal Groß both played in the number six role, acting as a dual pivot. The duo of Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz, together with Kai Havertz, meant that three very strong dribblers would be providing the attacking support for striker Tim Kleindienst.

Musiala makes fast start as Kleindienst grabs first goal

The 28,143 fans in attendance in Freiburg witnessed a Germany team looking to press high, demonstrating superior quality and hunger right from the off. Having already made some promising moves into the Bosnia half, Germany were rewarded after just 79 seconds. Rüdiger drove the ball forward down the right before playing a sharp, central ball towards the penalty area, where Kleindienst latched onto it, laying off for Kimmich in an advanced position on the right flank. The captain then crossed for Musiala, who gave visiting goalkeeper Vasilj no chance with a header into the right-hand corner. From then on, it was to be a dominant Germany performance, in which they gave Bosnia and Herzegovina little room to breathe. The forays down the wings that followed during the first fifteen minutes came to nothing when the ball was swung into the box, however.

Havertz fired off the next shot for Germany in the 17th minute. With the hosts having established controlled possession in the Bosnia half, Rüdiger found some room for a cross, finding Havertz's head with his sharp delivery, but the effort sailed a few yards wide of the left-hand upright. Bosnia and Herzegovina had their first scoring opportunity in the 18th minute when Ermedin Demirovic of Stuttgart broke down the left and cut inside, but his long-range shot missed to the right-hand side of the goal. The flag was then also raised for offside. Undeterred, Germany resumed their control. Musiala outpaced two opponents on the left flank before driving a low cross into the six-yard box. The visitors’ clearance unintentionally went straight to Andrich at the edge of the penalty area. He let fly before Kleindienst stuck his foot out to divert Andrich’s effort just past his marker and into the Bosnia goal to make it 2-0 and grab his first international goal (23’). There was barely time to boil the kettle before the next attempt on goal. Kimmich and Kleindienst played a one-two before Kimmich crossed the ball in the direction of Havertz. The forward rose high to head the ball with great precision towards the bottom left-hand corner. Vasilj was on hand to turn the ball round the post, though (25’).

Germany dominate the first half

Germany were threatening to run riot. Havertz and Musiala both fired further warning shots in the 32nd and 33rd minutes, narrowly missing the opposition goal. 71% possession after half an hour underlined Germany’s dominance; although, in the 34th minute, Bosnia and Herzegovina had their first attempt on the German goal. Omerovic looked to cap-off a nice move after a one-two on the right, but mustered too little power in a shot that was also too central.

In the 37th minute, Havertz was rewarded for a committed performance with the goal to make it 3-0. Andrich intercepted a goal kick from the visitors on the halfway line, immediately initiating an attack. He played in Havertz, who passed to the overlapping Wirtz on the right-hand side of the eighteen yard box. Wirtz latched onto the ball before returning to Havertz with a sharp cut-back that beat the defender for speed. Havertz simply had to slot home. The home side managed to create chances right up until half-time, but without further damage to the score line for the away side. In stoppage time, Baumann was called into action, having to deny Gigovic of Kiel, who unleashed a strike from right in front of goal. He tried to beat the goalkeeper to his left, but Baumann made a great reaction save with his left foot (45+1’). Germany had delivered both a dominant and lively first-half showing in the sold-out Europa Park Stadion.

Wirtz scores brilliant direct free-kick

Nagelsmann did not make any changes at half-time and Germany continued with their seemingly joyful approach to proceedings after the break. That joy was then only exacerbated when Wirtz netted another from a direct free-kick with (50’). From around 25 yards out, in a half-left position, the Leverkusen attacker fired the ball to find the right side of the goal, just clipping the crossbar. In the 57th minute, Andrich sent the onrunning Havertz into the penalty area down the left, who then struck from an acute angle. Vasilj parried the ball straight to the feet of Wirtz, who only had to tap in at the far, right-hand post. National head coach Nagelsmann then responded by making four changes. In the 58th minute, Leroy Sane came on for Musiala, Serge Gnabry replaced Wirtz, Julian Brandt took the place of Andrich and Benjamin Henrichs entered the pitch with Mittelstädt departing.

The alterations did nothing to hinder the Germany flow, however. Leroy Sane outpaced his opponent following an assist from Havertz and made it 6-0 (66’). Germany did then suffer a worrying moment when Kimmich ended up on the ground in pain following a coming-together in the Bosnia penalty area, but he was able to leave the field without assistance. Robin Koch filled in for him (73’). Even after almost 80 minutes and with six goals under their belts, Germany were still hungry for more. Kleindienst was on hand again to add another in the 79th minute – 7-0. The team kept up their good work in possession until the final whistle, but the celebrations of the fans in Freiburg carried on well into the night.