Germany will take on Sweden on Saturday in the round of 16 and the hosting nation is already feeling the World Cup euphoria.

"We are a football nation and the minimum is to reach the last four, we simply can't be eliminated," Klinsmann said in a press conference Friday.

Klinsmann's side were under severe pressure from the fans and media since he took over the team in 2004 as they could only finish third in the Confederations Cup last summer on home soil and failed to impress in their warm up games.

But winning all their three encounters in the group stage, their best World Cup start in 36 years, brought more optimism over the team's future in the tournament.

They crushed Costa Rica 4-1 in the opener before grabbing a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Poland then finished the group stage on high after hitting three against Ecuador.

"We want to be world champions, we want to set ourselves the highest possible goal and we can't accept just reaching the quarter finals as being our target," Klinsmann said.

Despite entering the game as favorites, Klinsmann refused to rule out Sweden's chances in the game saying that the north Europeans should never be underestimated.

"The Swedes are quiet an obstacle, we've seen their games and we know they're capable of keeping up with the best teams in the world," said Klinsmann, a former World Cup winner in 1990.

"Now the real World Cup is on, and it's going to be very hard on Saturday and we'll have to improve, Sweden deserves our full respect."

Klinsmann has all his options open after defender Christoph Metzelder recovered from a knee injury while the Swedes may be without Zlatan Ibrahimovic who is still doubtful after picking up an injury against Paraguay.