Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Germany

Bilino Polje is the venue as Bosnia & Herzegovina and Germany go head-to-head in a lopsided UEFA Nations League fixture.

Back to League A after earning promotion from the third tier in 2022, Bosnia got their Group A3 journey off to a sobering start, slumping to a dreadful 5-2 defeat to the Netherlands in a curtain-raising fixture. Sergej Barbarez’s side bounced back from a disastrous seven-game losing run with a morale-boosting 0-0 draw against Hungary last month, finally keeping a clean sheet after conceding 22 goals in seven matches. Playing at home won’t necessarily bolster Bosnia’s case, considering they’ve suffered four defeats across their last five internationals on home turf, barring a win against minnows Liechtenstein. That hardly makes for good reading as the Dragons take on Germany at home for the first time since 2002, looking to protect their unbeaten H2H record on this ground (D2).

On the other hand, Germany would likely consider another draw a failure after starting their Group A3 campaign with a scintillating 5-0 romping of Hungary before sharing the spoils with the Netherlands in a goal-glutted 2-2 draw last time out. But with several first-team regulars, including Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala, out of the squad, Julian Nagelsmann’s men may not be overly optimistic about defying their embarrassing away record in the Nations League (W1, D5, L3). That’s part of the reason ‘Die Mannschaft’ have never reached this competition’s semi-finals. Interestingly, three of their last four Nations League travels have yielded scoring draws, which has been the case in both Germany’s meetings with Bosnia in the 21st century (W1, D1).