alfaetrin

Eight of us have booked a "luxury farmhouse" in southern Bavaria, an hour from Munich. (May turn into nine or ten people) Staying for nine days, and making the 6½ hour drive to Cologne on the 19th, hotel overnight, then back to Bavaria. We're making a holiday of it, as this helped us to sell it to the missuses. "The hills are alive with the sound of music" and all that. Football, dear? Ah, yes, there are a couple games on, I believe. Me and the lads may wander off to Munich and Cologne if we're not too busy those days...

No chance the goal would have been disallowed if it had been a Spain goal. Looking for justifications now for disallowing it is pointless. Many goals from corners, from a few yards out etc could be disallowed for flimsy reasons, but rarely are, especially when the bigger team scores. I fear the referee, who will be under enormous pressure not to spoil the host's party. We are unlikely to be given many of the 50/50 decisions. VAR, as has been correctly pointed out, may well be used selectively, and even the VAR panel will feel the pressure to ensure that Germany don't feel hard done by as a result of a VAR decision. The bigger team bias may actually have worked in our favour during the qualifiers. When Callum McGregor scored against Georgia during the Hampden downpour, the match was subsquently halted by torrential rain making the pitch unplayable, but was then restarted. If, for example, Spain or Germany had gone behind in these circumstances, and their manager complained to the referee about the conditions, would the match still have restarted?

The tram car at Metekhi Bridge is full to bursting with the Tartan Army right now. As are many of the bars on the road from that bridge up to the main square (Liberty Square).

Beautiful day for sightseeing!

Will the pre-match gathering place be Freedom Square? I think I saw a post mentioning this, but I can't find it now. Then there's the traditional march to the stadium. Always fun, but it's nearly an hour's walk from Freedom Square, so I was wondering how the early evening might pan out on Thursday. How did it go the last time in Tbilisi, and where did the Tartan Army gather? Not managed an away match for a few years (we had to get tickets from the Georgian ticket site), so we're really looking forward to this one. alfaetrin +2 (veterans of Spain 82, Mexico 86, Italy 90, Sweden 92, England 96, France 98 et al)

Quick question: will the Scotland fan sections for this match be sections 10 and 11 again?

I know that Scotland fans were refused entry in Macedonia to the home end in 2008, but I wasn't at that one (perhaps fortunately!). I agree that, in general, fans wearing kilts are usually okay, but I guess we shouldn't take things for granted.

Okay, so if / when I arrive at the gate of the Norway home end wearing kilt and full Scotland gear, will I be turned away? Or would it be advisable to wear neutral clothing? Had both positive and negative experiences before in this scenario.

Surely the most ridiculous and meaningless Scotland song of all time was: "The wallpaper sticks to the wall...!" Mates are telling me I'm imagining it, but I definitely heard it a few times on the train to Hampden, back in tbe Craig Levein days.

I remember the big trip to Mexico very well. We arrived in a country we knew nothing about, not knowing what to expect. However, it exceeded all expectations. Mexico City, where we were based, was full of Scots, Danes, Belgians, Italians and fans from a host of other nations all partying together in a friendly manner. Our football, of course, was as p!sh as it ever was at tournaments, but the party atmosphere in the city was fabulous. That all changed when England fans started arriving in the city for their second round match against Paraguay. I witnessed them kicking the doors of bars that had closed, throwing litter around and fighting among themselves. The local population was horrified at these scenes, and the party atmosphere quickly came to an end. All in all, however, it was a wonderful World Cup adventure, and one of my abiding memories is of the stadium in Querétaro, three hours north of Mexico City, where we played West Germany (remember Gordon Strachan's goal?). During the match the stadium was resounding to deafening chants of "We hate Jimmy Hill, he's a ****, he's a ****. Oh, and I met a local girl in Mexico City, and we have been happily married for nearly 34 years. 🙄

Well, when the play-off draw was announced, and we avoided Portugal and Italy, I for one allowed myself to dream. I was lucky enough to go to Spain 82, Mexico 86, Italy 90, Sweden Euros 92, and France 98. I naïvely thought back then that the party would pretty much go on forever, but now a whole generation of Scotland fans (including my son) have grown up without ever seeing Scotland play in a major tournament. 24 years on, I would love to think that I have one more World Cup adventure in me before the Grim Reaper comes calling. If Scotland do make it to Qatar, count me in.

Will be in Rhodes on match day. Any suggestions of a bar on the island that would be showing the game?

I fear that even a draw or defeat wouldn't shift him. Where else is he going to find a £250k per year job?

That's the one, yes. You'll recognise us, we'll be the ones in kilts

Two of us (possibly three) in Astra Hotel. A few bus stops from the centre, but we came late to the party, as we have only just had confirmation that we can come on this trip. Speaking of parties, where is the best post-match TA gathering likely to be?

Edinburgh - Dusseldorf - Vienna on Sunday, then hire a car and drive to Bratislava. Return is Vienna - Brussels - Edinburgh.

We're in Section 12. Definitely wearing the kilt

Five of us still to arrange transport from Vilamoura and back. Couldn't arrange anything sooner as we weren't sure of our numbers. If there is a bus arranged, let me know, we are definitely interested.

Five tickets bought, green upper section. No problems in going through the booking process, hopefully the tickets themselves arrive soon, they seem to come by email. Looks like this part of the stadium will be pretty much exclusively TA. If qualification hinges on this game, well, what an atmosphere it will be! Bring it on!

Hi FTID, Yes, there could be three of us interested in sharing transport from and back to Vilamoura (or four, or five perhaps)

Just booked up for the trip, staying in Vilamoura, so there are now another four of us looking for transport Vilamoura to the stadium and back. Not a major problem to book our own transport, I suppose, but being in a bus full of Scotland fans heading to the stadium would fair take me back to a few trips from days gone by... Could maybe get together with the guys already posting above and arrange something But if anyone has four places on a bus available, let me know!

Four of us in the Algardia Apartments, Vilamoura.

Four of us in the Algardia Apartments, Vilamoura. Haven't sorted our match transport yet, if anyone's looking to fill spaces?