The 26-year-old was born and raised in Germany and played for SC Freiburg and 1899 Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga before completing a switch to Reading in 2013.

Williams excelled in midfield on Monday evening and was the perfect foil for a superb Nathaniel Chalobah performance as the pair combined to ensure Reading dominated against a lacklustre Bradford.

It was the type of performance that will need to be replicated against a higher calibre of opponent at Wembley such as Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta if Reading are to cause an FA Cup shock of their own.

But the USA international is up for the fight - declaring that he isn’t going to Wembley to renew acquaintances with old friends or to soak in the atmosphere.

He said: “I think everyone dreams of playing against a team like Arsenal at Wembley but we’re all professionals and I hate to lose so I go there to win and we’ll see what the future brings.

“It’s one of the highlights of my career but now we’re two games away from winning it so I’m not going to Wembley to look round the stadium and enjoy the atmosphere.

“Whenever I want to play I want to win.

“Unfortunately Lukas Podolski isn’t at Arsenal any more, he’s a great lad. I know Mesut [Ozil] from playing in the Bundesliga against him and when you live in London you bump into them.

“But I’m not going there to make friends, I’m going there to win.”

The American international has been in fine form recently and is probably playing his best football of the season, excelling in the central midfield role whether it’s as part of a two or a three man central mifield.

The regular change in formation under Steve Clarke doesn’t seem to effect Williams and he paid tribute to Clarke in the aftermath of Monday’s historic win for his tactical gameplan that saw Reading race into a two goal lead before cruising the remainder of the match to spark wild scenes at the Madejski Stadium.

Reading’s lightning start stunned the hosts and Williams believed the intensity of the Royals’ play overawed the League One visitors.

“It was the perfect game plan,” he added. “The manager set our minds right, we knew we had to be on top of them, especially in the first 15 minutes

“They wanted to ruin the party tonight but we didn’t let that happen.

“We started very well, scored two in the opening 10 minutes and went close again shortly after.

“We got on top of them, they couldn’t deal with the pressure and we kept a clean sheet as well which is pleasing.

“The fans and us players have now got an FA Cup semi-final to look forward to and hopefully we can win.”