The best analogy I heard on this was from “Mike and Mike” on ESPN. They said it is like a golf tournament. You are up 5 strokes going into Sunday, you do not need to defeat the whole field on the last day, just shoot par and win the tournament.
Do you think right now Mexico fans care about how they got into the WC in the first place?
Yep, it all about tactics. There was a reason why the US bench was in constant contact with what was happening between Ghana and Portugal.