News (engl.)

The Germany national team overcame their tricky away trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday night, running out 2-1 winners at the Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica. Deniz Undav’s first-half brace had Germany in control, until a 70th-minute goal back from Edin Dzeko made for a close finish.

Head coach Julian Nagelsmann made five changes compared to the side that started the last international in September against the Netherlands, many enforced by a string of injury problems: Marc-André ter Stegen, David Raum, Kai Havertz, Jamal Musiala, and Nico Schlotterbeck were replaced by Alexander Nübel, Antonio Rüdiger, Maximilian Mittelstädt, Serge Gnabry, and Tim Kleindienst. Nübel won his first cap deputising for ter Stegen, who is set for a long spell out injured. The experienced Rüdiger had Jonathan Tah alongside him at centre-back, with captain Joshua Kimmich and Mittelstädt, one of six VfB Stuttgart players in the final squad, in the full-back positions. Pascal Groß and Robert Andrich partnered up in central midfield once more, with the creative trio of Florian Wirtz, Deniz Undav, and Serge Gnabry ahead of them. There was another debutant up front, with new Borussia Mönchengladbach signing Tim Kleindienst handed his first Germany appearance at 29 years of age.

Both sides fought hard for every ball in the cauldron like atmosphere in Zenica, and referee Francois Letexier produced his first yellow card of the match after just seven minutes for Armin Gigovic’s rough challenge on Kimmich. An attacking threat was lacking from the two teams in the opening quarter of an hour, as Germany enjoyed possession against an organised Bosnian defence. A short back-pass from Gnabry almost handed the lead to the hosts after 18 minutes, but Nübel was quick off his line and cleared the danger just in time. That seemed to serve as a wake-up call for Nagelsmann’s boys, and they began to create chances. Groß had a long-range effort fizz just past the post (25’), followed soon after by the opening goal. Andrich’s ball over the top of the Bosnia defence picked out Wirtz’s perfectly timed run. Instead of taking the obvious shot though, he cleverly touched the ball back for Undav to slam the ball into the bottom-left corner with the goalkeeper fooled (29’).

Undav at the double

A few minutes later, Germany were celebrating again. The ball dropped to Kleindienst in the box, and his shot had too much power for Nikola Vasilj to keep out. However, a slightly delayed offside flag was raised and VAR confirmed it was the right call to deny the former Heidenheim striker a debut goal (34’). Bosnia and Herzegovina almost levelled the scores instead straight down the other end, but Stuttgart’s Ermedin Demirovic ended his counterattack with a shot that clipped the top of the crossbar, with Andrich applying just enough pressure and perhaps Nübel making the slightest of deflections with his head, although no corner was given (35’). The DFB-Team looked unfazed by the near-miss though, and soon doubled their advantage. Mittelstädt was released down the left-hand side and delivered a ball across the face to his club teammate Undav, who turned it home with another first-time finish to grab his second goal of the day (36’). An eventful first half came to a close with Germany looking comfortable and good for their lead.

Bosnia came out strong in the second 45, but the visitors held firm and were the first ones to create a goalscoring opportunity, and Undav would have had his hat-trick if not for a last-ditch block by Leon Barisic (55’). Three minutes later, the Stuttgart man did put the ball in the back of the net for a third time after a goalmouth scramble, however VAR intervened, with Kleindienst narrowly offside once again in the build-up (58’). With just over 20 minutes to go, Nagelsmann made multiple changes, bringing on Robin Gosens, Angelo Stiller and another debutant, Mainz 05’s Jonathan Burkardt, for Mittelstädt, Andrich and Undav.

After yet another goal was ruled offside, this time for FC Bayern’s Serge Gnabry, who ran in behind and applied a fine finish inside the far post (68’), Germany suddenly found themselves dragged into a real scrap: Edin Dzeko climbed highest at the back post, heading a corner beyond the reach of Nübel to make it 2-1 in the 70th minute. The Bosnian crowd responded and tried to roar their side to a late equaliser, but the DFB-Team remained poised in possession and calmly controlled the closing stages of the game. Chris Führich and Waldemar Anton were also brought on for the final minutes, replacing Gnabry and Groß, and helped see out the win, putting them on seven points after three Nations League games.

Germany are now just one win away from securing a place in the competition’s quarter-finals. They could do that on Monday, when the Netherlands are the visitors to the Allianz Arena in Munich (20:45 CEST). The top two progress to the knockout stages, and Germany currently sit first in Group A3, two points clear of the Dutch.