have been playing those extra games, as their lack of cohesion defensively in game-situatiosn showed at times this past Gold Cup, they chose to use more time to bond and prepare as a group, which means they were unable to artificially boost their rankings. Add that to the fact that they had Martinique in their Gold Cup group, meaning they only technically won once all tournament, against Cuba, which hindered the ability to boost their FIFA ranking, likely making them regret their approach leading up to and during the tournament.



Which is frustrating. Why should teams be rewarded for artificially boosting their rankings? If they are good enough, they will qualify naturally, so no need to decide an arbitrary system. Study the case of Poland at World Cup 2018.Due to their propensity to play friendlies at every avenue possible, they entered the World Cup as a top 5 team, pushing them to be a pot 1 country (which in theory means a weaker group, as groups are comprised of teams drawn from each pot). While they ultimately qualified legitimately, they definitely did not belong as a pot 1 team, shown when they were drawn into the group of life (Colombia, Senegal, Japan), and finished dead-last, with a pot 4 team, Japan, making it out, and pot 3 team, Senegal, coming pretty close themselves, tying with Japan. Poland probably regretted playing all the friendlies against weaker opposition, because for all the help it gave them with rankings, it did not do anything to prepare them for the