Undav double secures second win for Germany
Deniz Undav netted twice in the space of six first-half minutes as Germany held on for a 2-1 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the UEFA Nations League match at Stadion Bilino Polje.
The Stuttgart striker found the back of the net in the 30th and 36th minutes to pull Julian Nagelsmann’s side into a two-goal lead, but captain Edin Dzeko’s goal for the hosts after restart set up a tense ending to the game which Germany navigated.
Florian Wirtz ran on to a lofted ball from Robert Andrich before laying it back for Undav to open the scoring at the half-hour mark in the League A Group 3 fixture, but Bosnia-Herzegovina were unfortunate not to equalise in an instant.
Ermedin Demirovic broke free on a counter just four minutes later and beat Germany goalkeeper Alexander Nubel with his shot only to see it brush the top of the crossbar on its way out.
It proved to be a costly miss as Undav turned in a low cross from Maximilian Mittelstadt a couple of minutes later to give the visitors a two-goal cushion.
Undav thought he had his hat-trick in the 58th minute only for the goal to be ruled out for offside before Dzeko halved the deficit for Sergej Barbarez’s side heading home a Benjamin Tahriovic corner with 20 minutes left to play.
But the hosts failed to find an equaliser as group leader Germany preserved its unbeaten start and went two points clear of Netherlands with a second win.
Bosnia-Herzegovina, meanwhile, sits bottom with only one point from three matches.
Geermany coach Julian Nagelsmann said his side should have been more ruthless.
"We didn't start so well and kept the ball on one side too much in the first ten minutes," he said.
"When we adjusted that, it was good and we were dominant. Given our superiority, we could have scored more goals.
"Regarding the goal we conceded, Edin Dzeko shouldn't have been that free inside the box. But the team kept control after that. We didn't want to take many risks."
Bayer Leverkusen's Wirtz echoed Nagelsmann's thoughts, acknowledging his side's wastefulness in front of goal.
"I think we made it difficult for ourselves. We could have won by a bigger margin," Wirtz said.
"Against Netherlands we expect long balls to the striker.
"Bosnia did something similar today, but of course it will be even more difficult on Monday [Tuesday AEDT].
"The quality of the Dutch team is even higher."
