By William Schomberg and Gerhard Mey
BOSTON, June 28 (Reuters) - Germany fans gathering in Boston on Sunday, a day ahead of their team's first World Cup knockout match against Paraguay, said they were confident about the chances of victory against the rugged South Americans, but the prospect of meeting France in the next round was more of a challenge.
"It’s not going to be pretty but the result will count so they will have to put up a tough fight," said Tim Nikolayzik, who is originally from Bremen
and has worked in finance in New York since 2019, of Monday's game with Paraguay.
Nikolayzik said he was cautiously optimistic about the four-time world champions' encounter against the South Americans who are competing in their first World Cup in 16 years.
Germany crushed minnows Curacao 7-1 in their opening game of the tournament, but they had to come from behind to beat Ivory Coast and lost 2-1 to Ecuador in their final group game, when they had already qualified for the Round of 32.
That already is an improvement after shock first-round exits in 2018 and 2022.
Under coach Julian Nagelsmann, the Germans have stars such as striker Kai Havertz and attacking midfielder Jamal Musiala. Many fans, though, think they have a long way to go to equal the power of Spain, France and defending champions Argentina, especially in defence.
Jonny Wiesinger, a 33-year-old human resources worker from near Wuerzburg in southern Germany, acknowledged the team was not in the best form but was optimistic about their chances of overcoming Paraguay on Monday and then defeating France despite the lethal French strikers Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele.
France, runners-up to Argentina in 2022, are widely tipped to beat Sweden in their Round of 32 match on Tuesday.
Wiesinger said it was possible for Germany to reclaim the World Cup trophy they last lifted in Brazil 12 years ago.
"We are Germany so we are not scared of anyone," he said before joining friends at a bar in Boston's downtown area. "Of course, we have had better times (but) in 2014 nobody thought that we can win it so why shouldn’t we do it this year?"
Paraguay will have other ideas. Their coach said on Sunday they would take inspiration from having beaten Argentina and Brazil in World Cup qualifiers when they take on Germany.
Almost 1,000 Germany fans attended a baseball match between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees on Sunday.
(Reporting by William Schomberg and Gerhard Mey; Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Tom Hogue)
