Germany
- Germany will head into Monday's World Cup knockout clash as the obvious favorites to beat Paraguay, although the outsider from the South American continent could make a contest of it if they can sit deep and hold firm.
- Die Mannschaft have been red-hot in all competitions in the last few months, winning nine of their ten matches and losing just one.
- Julian Nagelsmann has them playing at a high tempo, a vertical style with a pressing game and half-space overloads that has seen them score 21 goals in their last five home games in all competitions.
- Germany have won four of their last five matches in all competitions (L1).
Paraguay
- Paraguay have lost four of their last eight away games in all competitions (W3, D1, L4).
- They beat Turkey 1-0 in their opening World Cup game away from home, but followed that up with a 0-0 home draw against Australia.
- Gustavo Alfaro has set up his side to be a compact, pragmatic unit, sitting deep and playing narrow while looking to counter-attack and score off set pieces.
- Paraguay's record across all comps is less impressive, averaging 1.12 goals scored and 1.62 goals conceded per match.
Head-to-Head
Germany beat Paraguay in their only prior World Cup knockout meeting in 2002 and there should be enough of a gap in skill and class for the Europeans to prevail on Monday.
Key Players
Deniz Undav has scored five goals for Germany in his last five games.
Betting Insights
- Germany are the clear pick here, but they are too low odds for our tastes at 1.45 to beat a side, which has a solid record in the competition.
- Alfaro's side are massive underdogs at 8.15 while the draw is a distant 4.97, but the best angle here may still be Under 2.5 goals at 2.04.
Prediction
So we fancy Germany to control the game and grind out a victory, so we are going for the Germany win and BTTS - No at 1.75 .
