The Netherlands and Germany played out a thrilling 2-2 draw in their Nations League Group A3 on Tuesday in Amsterdam.

Deniz Undav scored on his first start for Germany and captain Joshua Kimmich added the second to make it 2-1 at half-time after Tijjani Reijnders had scored for the Dutch after 100 seconds. Denzel Dumfries equalised early in the second half in a game played at a high tempo and with occasional fits of temper to make it a feisty derby.

After beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 5-2 in their opening match, the Netherlands started brilliantly at the Johan Cruyff Arena. Ryan Gravenberch’s perfect through ball set up Reijnders to tap the ball past goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen and into the net. Dumfries then headed wide from a free kick by Xavi Simons, before Simons missed an opportunity of his own from another precise pass from Gravenberch.

Germany had much of the ball and levelled in the 38th minute, with Jamal Musiala intercepting a miscued pass from Matthijs de Ligt to set up Undav for his first international goal. The visitors then took the lead in first-half injury time, Robert Andrich’s long diagonal ball being hooked back by David Raum for the unmarked Kimmich to score at the far post.

Nathan Aké was forced off just before half-time with a suspected hamstring injury, replaced by Jurriën Timber, and Ronald Koeman replaced De Ligt with Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton at half-time. Five minutes into the second half, striker Brian Brobbey held the defenders square in front of Dumfries to level the score.

Julian Nagelsmann’s side wasted three good chances to regain the lead as Kai Havertz missed from close range, Undav tried in vain to chip keeper Bart Verbruggen and Raum headed wide at the far post. Germany remain top of their group on goal difference, while Hungary and Bosnia played out a goalless draw in Budapest.

In Division B is the Republic of IrelandThe misery in the Nations League continued Greece emerged from their Group 2 trip to Dublin with a 2-0 victory, with Fotis Ioannidis and Christos Tzolis scoring in the second half to leave the hosts scoreless after two games under new head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson.

It might have been different had Chiedozie Ogbene not been caught offside before making a superb first-half finish from a pass by Jayson Molumby. After a competitive first period, Greece took the lead within five minutes of the restart when Ioannidis curled a left-footed shot past Caoimhin Kelleher from the edge of the penalty area.

Jason Knight headed wide from Ogbene’s cross as the Republic responded, with Hallgrímsson also teeing up striker Evan Ferguson for Molumby just after the hour. Will Smallbone had a chance to equalise with 10 minutes to go but couldn’t quite control Robbie Brady’s pullback.

Adam Idah and Callum Robinson also came on late in the game, with the latter’s late effort just missing. Tzolis then struck at the death, stepping past Nathan Collins after being played in behind the Irish defence and firing emphatically past Kelleher to secure Greece’s victory.

In Group B1, two first-half goals from Pavel Sulc and a late penalty from Tomas Soucek gave the Czech Republic a 3-2 victory over Ukraine. Sulc worked Vaclav Cerny’s shot into the net to open the scoring, but Vladyslav Vanat headed in Mykola Shaparenko’s cross to equalise. Sulc restored the home side’s lead just before half-time with a powerful volley.

Soucek extended the home side’s lead in Prague with an 80th-minute penalty and although Georgiy Sudakov scored another goal for Ukraine, the Czechs held on for a welcome victory after losing 4-1 to Georgia in their group match. Georgia are top of the group after securing a 1-0 win over AlbaniaGiorgi Kochorashvili scored the winning goal in Tirana.