Germany vs Paraguay will be refereed by Jalal Jayed, of Morocco.
The round-of-32 began with co-hosts Canada leaving it late to beat South Africa with an injury-time winner on Sunday night, with Brazil and Japan set to lock horns in Monday’s early game.
It’s then over to Boston, where the Germans will – somewhat remarkably – be bidding to win their first World Cup knockout game since they triumphed in the 2014 final in Brazil.
Referee confirmed for Germany vs Paraguay
Despite a 2-1 defeat to Ecuador in their final Group E match, the Germans were able to top the group thanks to their 7-1 steamrolling of Curacao and a 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast.
Paraguay booked their place in the knockouts following a goalless draw with Australia, which sealed third place in Group D following an opening 4-1 defeat to the United States and a 1-0 victory over Turkey.
The referee for this clash will be Jalal Jayed.
This will be the Moroccan whistle-man’s third match of the tournament, which began with Germany’s aforementioned 7-1 victory over Curaçao, before he was in charge for Portugal’s 5-0 thrashing of Uzbekistan.
And while the goals have flowed during Jayed’s two matches so far, the cards haven’t, as the 39-year-old has only had to put his hand in his pocket twice, when he issued yellow cards for Uzbekistan’s Odildzhon Khamrobekov and Portugal’s Renato Veiga.
Jayad will be joined by his countrymen Zakaria Brinsi and Mostafa Akarkad as assistant referees.
China’s Ming Na will be on fourth official duties, with Fei Zhou serving as the reserve official.
The VAR crew will be led by Tatiana Guzmán of Nicaragua, with Hamza El-Fariq of Morocco as the assistant VAR and Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Alshehri as the support VAR.