That looks like a fun game! Let me give it a try.
Here is your
original premise, in the post right before the one you just cited as my "original premise":
But don't try to suggest that there's something inherently wrong with ties.
And here is your counter argument to that premise:
You cannot have a tie in a knockout round!
So there's
nothing inherently wrong with ties, except for when you cannot allow them? Got it.
Put simply: is it
possible to use tiebreakers to determine which team advances in the case of a tie game in a knockout round, yes or no? If the answer is yes, then FIFA simply
prefers the option of PKs over the alternative of tiebreakers in the knockout round, and they could just as easily choose the option of PKs in group play, too.