Deniz Undav scored twice as Germany defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-1 to edge closer to the Nations League quarter-finals on Friday as 10-man Netherlands rescued a 1-1 draw in Hungary.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz laid on a backheel for Undav’s opener after 30 minutes in Zenica.
The Stuttgart forward then made it two when he turned in Maximilian Mittlestaedt’s cross.
Bosnia hit back with 20 minutes remaining when 38-year-old former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko headed in from a corner for his 67th international goal.
“After they scored, things heated up a bit, but we controlled things confidently,” Undav, making just his second international start, told German broadcaster RTL.
The win moves Germany onto seven points from three games, two ahead of the Netherlands with the heavyweights facing each other on Monday in Munich.
“We scored too few goals for the number of chances we had,” said Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann.
At the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary and Dutch players, as well as spectators, observed a minute’s silence in memory of former Netherlands great Johan Neeskens who passed away this week at the age of 73.
Hungary took the lead in the 32nd minute when Roland Sallai scored with a close-range finish after being teed up by Zsolt Nagy.
It was the perfect start to the game for Hungarian coach Marco Rossi who was taking charge of the national team for the 69th time.
