Arab world

Sarajevo (AFP)

Deniz Undav led the German team to a 2-1 victory over their Bosnian hosts and take the lead in Group C, in the third round of the first round of the UEFA Nations League “First Stage” competition. take advantage of the Netherlands’ 1-1 draw with the host, Hungary.
The German team alone leads the group with seven points, compared to 5 points for the Netherlands, 2 points for Hungary, and one point for Bosnia.
“After they scored, things got a little tense, but we controlled things with confidence,” Undav said after the match.
For his part, young star Florian Wirtz believed that Germany “made things a little difficult for ourselves,” adding, “We could definitely have scored more goals.”
In the first match, which was held in Zenica (60 km from the capital, Sarajevo), Stuttgart striker Undav performed exceptionally well, scoring two goals for Die Mannschaft in the first half (30 and 36) , before veteran striker Edin Dzeko reduced the score for the Bosnians (70).
The German team, who had to make five changes to their starting line-up due to injuries, started the game slowly and needed some time to fully control the game.
The injury ruled out Bayern Munich player Jamal Musiala, Arsenal player Kai Havertz, Eintracht Frankfurt defender Robin Koch, Leipzig left back David Raum, and West Ham English player Nicklas Volkrug.
The four-time world champions also lost the services of Barcelona’s Spanish goalkeeper, ​​Marc-Andre ter Stegen, after suffering a serious injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season, following a seizure suffered a ruptured knee tendon, and coach Julian Nagelsmann replaced him with defender Alexander Nubel from Germany.
The German team managed to take the lead, after a joint game that started with Robert Andrich with a long pass to the young star Florian Wirtz, who prepared him inside the penalty area in an amazing way in front of UNDF, and the latter did not. hesitate to follow him into the goal (30).
Coach Nagelsmann’s men thought they had grabbed a second goal after two minutes, but Tim Kleindienst’s goal, making his international debut at the age of 29, was ruled out for offside. – head (32).
The home team was about to snatch the equalizer if not for the intervention of the crossbar, after a shot from Stuttgart striker Ermidin Demirovich (34).
Undaf doubled the lead of the German team, a few minutes later, after Maximilian Mittelstadt passed a low cross that found Undaf’s foot in the goal (36).
Undaf thought he had scored his third goal, a hat-trick, at the start of the second half, after a cross from Mittelstadt that Kleindienst tried to follow up, but it reached Undaf, who was positioned in front of the goal. open, but had the goal disallowed for offside (58).
Dzeko, the former Italian Inter Milan and Manchester City and current Fenerbahce striker, brought his country back to the feeling of the game, after reducing the score with a header, after a corner kick (70) .
Within the same group, the Netherlands, who played in the last ten minutes with ten players, drew 1-1 with their host, Hungary.
Hungary took the lead through Roland Szalai (32nd), and Denzil Dumfries made a chance for the Netherlands (83rd).
The match started with complete Dutch control, but it was very difficult for the “Orange” players to penetrate the defenses of the home team.
On the other hand, Hungary was responsible for side effects.
The first dangerous chance for Hungary was when national team captain and Liverpool midfielder Dominik Tsboszlai passed a smart ball from a corner kick to Szallai, and the latter sent it flying, hitting him the mail (17).
Tijani Reynders responded with a powerful shot that was blocked by Hungarian goalkeeper Denis Debush (28).
The Hungarian national team opened the scoring, when Szalai, unmarked at the far post, caught a cross from Zsolt Nagy, which he followed on the flight into the net from a short distance (32).
The referee gave an indirect free kick inside the Hungarian Stellar area of ​​six, which was launched by Liverpool’s English striker Cody Khakbo, and the Hungarian goalkeeper threw it (38).
The Dutch team pressed at the start of the second half, in an attempt to equalise, and the defender Stefan de Vrij headed the ball outside the three posts (59), and the substitute striker Brian Brobbey hit header that passed the post (77) .
The Dutch team finished the last ten minutes with ten players, after their captain, Virgil van Dijk, was sent off with a second yellow card in a span of 3 minutes.
Van Dijk will miss the summit match against Germany next Monday.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, the Dutch side managed to equalize when Dumfries, who took over as captain, rose above all others, taking advantage of a direct free kick and brings it to the net (83).
In other notable matches, Wales lost to Iceland when they led by two goals, before the latter tied 2-2 in the fourth group (second stage). In the same group, Türkiye defeated Montenegro 1-0.
The situation was repeated in the match between Sweden, which also led 2-0 over its host in Slovakia, before appearing with a 2-2 draw in the first group (third level).