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Germany's reconstruction appears to be on track
Denis Undav scored twice as the four-time World Cup winner extended his unbeaten run in the Nations League to three with a 2-1 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday.
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With a squad reduced to 10 players, the Netherlands drew 1-1 with Hungary.
Following the retirement of Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos, Germany have started a new cycle and their clean and fluent performance against a spirited Bosnia bodes well for the future.
Germany was top of its group after a 5-0 victory over Hungary and a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands.
Lacking much determination, the Germans played confidently, creating complex attacking moves and appearing to be having fun. They had plenty of opportunities to score more goals and two goals were disallowed due to offside.
“I knew Bosnia and Herzegovina were good defensively, but you have to remember that we had a lot of chances,” said German coach Julian Nagelsmann. Thanks to this, Bosnia and Herzegovina stayed in the game.
The only downside was a defensive error when Hungarian Edin Dzeko withdrew with 20 minutes left.
The guests took the lead in the 30th minute after a clever play by Florian Wirtz. The unmarked midfielder collected a high pass into the penalty area and instead of trying his luck, he unexpectedly passed to Undav, who calmly finished the action.
Undav, who made his debut for Germany by scoring a goal against the Netherlands, was undergoing clinical tests on Friday.
His clubmate from Stuttgart, Maximilian Mittelstudt, sent in a brilliant cross six minutes later, and Undav shot in smoothly from close range to double Germany's lead.
Another Stuttgart player, Ermedin Demirovic of Bosnia, hit the post in the 35th minute, but Dzeko fired home from a corner kick in the 70th minute, his 67th goal for the national team.
Netherlands occupied by Hungary
The Dutch's unbeaten streak almost came to an end at the Puskas Arena.
The Netherlands had won their previous nine meetings with Hungary and dominated possession in the first half. However, it was not possible to break through the strong Hungarian defense. Roland Sallai put the hosts ahead in the 32nd minute after Josolt Nagy's cross from close range.
The Dutch were in for a terrible evening when defender Virgil van Dijk was sent off for a second yellow card, but Denzel Dumfries scored for the visitors with a header from Cody Gakpo's curling free-kick in the 83rd minute.
“Even with 10 players, we tried to put pressure,” said Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman. I thought to myself: we're going to score. If you lose, you are relieved that you are still ahead 1-1.
Germany increased its two-point lead over Group A leaders, the Netherlands. Hungary was third, ahead of Bosnia.
Ukraine defeated Georgia 1-0
Georgia ended Ukraine's unbeaten streak in Group B.
Georgia, the surprise of this year's European Championship, won its first two matches and, despite the defeat, became the leader of the group. Mykhailo Mudryk scored the winning goal for Ukraine, giving the war-torn nation its first point in the tournament.
The Czech Republic won against Albania 2-0.
Other results
Iceland drew 2-2 with Wales and overcame a two-goal deficit. Brennan Johnson scored for his seventh successive match for club and country, with the Tottenham winger heading Wales' opener. In the second match of Group B4, Türkiye defeated Montenegro 1-0. In League C, Estonia won 3-1 against Azerbaijan, and Sweden drew 2-2 with Slovakia.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been modified by Business Standards staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
