I am predicting Argentina to win the match on penalties
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It’s all Dan Andrews fault as I’m sure everyone would agree 
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A couple of potential punishments for Victory in the wake of this (as an alternative to games behind closed doors which I suspect will be the actual punishment) which I’d like to see:
- All home games the rest of the season shared across regional venues (e.g. Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Albury, Latrobe Valley). All games start at or before 2pm and strictly no alcohol allowed. All non-local attendees must book tickets in advance to allow for vetting, local attendees must display ID as proof if they turn up on the day.
- All home games for the rest of the season played in Sydney (seeing as that triggered this situation in the first place) as a form of ironic justice.
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What? That’s just so complicated, expensive and difficult.
Blurred WC Final comments (in case someone was going to watch the replay)
1-0 Argentina! Messi penalty coolly dispatched for his 97th Argentina goal!
AND IT’S JUST TOO EASY FOR DI MARIA! 2-0!
PENALTY FRANCE! MBAPPE SCORES IT’S 2-1… We’ve got a game on our hands! 10 and injury time to go…
OH MY GOODNESS 2-2! Hadn’t even finished the above line and Mbappe scores again!
EXTRA TIME let’s go!
Still 2-2 half time extra time…penalties?
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! MESSI WINS IT AT THE DEATH?!? 3-2 Argentina!
PENALTY FRANCE! AND HATTRICK FOR MBAPPE! PENALTIES IT SHALL BE!
AND IT’S PENALTIES! What a game… (not me having already written a very nice post about Messi winning… might as well post it while we wait: Messi’s magic moment arrives in the Middle East! In his final World Cup game, his place as the game’s greatest is surely assured. The midfield maestro from Rosario, with the weight of his nation and his international legacy on his shoulders, deep into extra time, secures the one trophy he has long lacked.
AND IT IS ARGENTINA! MESSI WINS THE WORLD CUP!
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(I’m guessing that’s for my first idea re: regional areas)
Complicated and difficult, I’ll concede that it would not be the easiest thing to set up but it definitely could be done. A somewhat similar example of something like this- Hungary was required to hold games behind closed doors but was able to have children as spectators as a result of a UEFA exemption.
Expensive- given that MV are likely to have several games behind closed doors, if not the rest of the season, if they want to avoid that fate I would imagine this would be an attractive alternative even if they were required to wear the financial burden. It would help grow the game in regional areas too which would help with rehabilitating the image of MV and the A-League in general which has taken a bit of a hit with these events.
https://twitter.com/Sachk0/status/1604535679471345664?s=20&t=NK0coCVQPO5HDBsLZrjMgQ
https://twitter.com/talkSPORT/status/1604535646932160513?s=20&t=NK0coCVQPO5HDBsLZrjMgQ
https://twitter.com/goal/status/1604535645904711680?s=20&t=NK0coCVQPO5HDBsLZrjMgQ
https://twitter.com/neal_symons/status/1604535878604312576?s=20&t=NK0coCVQPO5HDBsLZrjMgQ
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Anazing how Argentina lead 2-0 and 2 goals in 2 minutes from Mbappe levelled it up at 2-2 in the blink of an eye.
Shame it had to go to penalties… perhaps it should go to a countback instead at the end of extra time eg team with fewest yellow or red cards or with most shots on goal wins.
Are you drunk? (or an English cricket fan?)
Messi and Mbappe both had performed superbly at this World Cup. Messi won the Golden Ball (and a black ceremonial robe) as player of the tournament, while Mbappe claimed the Golden Boot award for most goals scored in the tournament with eight, just one ahead of Messi. England won the Fair Play award.
Australia finished 11th overall at the World Cup.
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I always think penalties are a bit of a lottery… there’s too much pressure on the goalkeepers
That is what the goalkeepers train for. If they aren’t good enough, it is their bad
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I’ve been to games in the UK, Germany and Spain and ive been though airport style security and been told as my ticket has me sitting in a certain teams section i must arrive at a particular train station and have been corralled to the stadium whilst being watched by mounted police and even wearing anything that could be construed as the opposition colours is prohibited.
i like the australian game. I like i can sit next to an opposition fan, have some friendly banter about the game and than share a beer afterwards, and i hope it never changes
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Like 2006, the team that defeated Australia in the Round of 16 won the tournament on penalties
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The Socceroos have had a good FIFA World Cup. The Socceroos beat Peru in the FIFA World Cup Intercontinental playoffs in the penalty shootout, lost to France in the group stage, beat Tunisia and Denmark in the group stage. But lost to eventual champions Argentina in the round of 16. 
This reminded me of the 2006 FIFA World Cup when the Socceroos beat Uruguay in the Intercontinental Playoffs in November 2005. We beat Japan 3-1, lost to Brazil 2-0 but secured a draw 2-2 to Croatia. The Socceroos lost to eventual champions Italy in round of 16. (sadly the Socceroos were robbed in the Knockouts!
Meanwhile home nation, Qatar finished last, languishing down to 32nd. Why is it so hard for home nation Qatar to win a game in the tournament? 
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Because, as China has shown (and basically admitted), footballing success on a team level is something you cannot buy in 20 years!
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The Melbourne Victory have been given a Wednesday morning deadline to argue why they shouldn’t be hit with “serious sanctions” in the wake of Saturday night’s pitch invasion at AAMI Park.
In a show cause issued to the club on Monday morning, Football Australia said the sanctions could include fines, the docking of competition points, or playing matches either behind closed doors or at neutral venues.
Move all their games to Sydney, but make them play out of somewhere terrible, like 4 Pines Park
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Wollongong would really like an A-League team of their own. So make them play at Wollongong and rebrand them as the Wollongong Wolves.
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