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Kai Havertz has already achieved plenty in his career. He scored the goals that won Chelsea the Champions League and the Club World Cup in 2021, and has just been crowned Premier League champion with Arsenal. He has also made his mark for Germany, winning 61 caps. But even Havertz has never played in a World Cup knockout match. “It’s the kind of thing lots of kids dream about. It’s a dream that will come true for me tomorrow as well,” said Havertz on Sunday evening, speaking inside the stadium in Boston less than 24 hours before Germany’s last-32 tie against Paraguay on Monday (22:30 CEST). “I’m really looking forward to it. Over the past few days, you could see that everyone is desperate to get out on the pitch tomorrow. I’m confident it will be a good game.”

Julian Nagelsmann is also relishing Germany’s first World Cup knockout match since 2014, despite the defeat to Ecuador in their final group game with top spot already secured. “There was real bite in our final training session today,” said the head coach, whose side trained at their base in Winston-Salem in the morning before travelling to Boston. “You could tell that something special is coming up tomorrow: a knockout game. The players were really going for it, and they’ll do the same tomorrow.”

“We'll need a perfect performance”

Nagelsmann kept his cards close to his chest when asked about his team for the last-32 tie. “There are tactical reasons to think about changing a few things, but there are also reasons to keep the starting XI as it is,” he said. “It’s also about not making the opposition coach’s job any easier than we have to.” Nagelsmann knows what Paraguay are all about. “They are compact and, above all, defend very well. They have very good players throughout the team. We’ll need a perfect performance tomorrow to win.” Havertz is also wary of the South Americans. “They have quality. Aggression and intensity are what define them. We need a good performance, and we’ll be better tomorrow.”

Havertz wants to help make that happen alongside Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz in attack. “We talk a lot about what can work better and what we need to improve. The three of us know ourselves that we haven’t fully shown what we’re capable of up front yet. We have to take responsibility for that,” said Havertz. “We’re going into the game with total belief that this can be the spark for us in attack.” Havertz put it simply: “I like big games, matches on the biggest stage.” His first World Cup knockout match has arrived at just the right time.