Would more games made a difference

[The Ref]

A lot has been said that the team needed more games. But would more games had made a difference? IMO not really. This is how I come to this conclusion. They did play a number of games against strong opposition where they lost twice to China, got taken to the cleaners by the U.S. and Brazil and lost to a U.S. U20 team. On the other hand they won fairly easy against weak teams like N.Z., Ecuador and Uruguay. For a normal coach the message was clear. The team was not as strong as they were made to believe by the coach and he did nothing about it. Yes, he said they needed to tweak here or there, but any such tweaking yielded nothing tangible. The team was not able to hung on to leads in crucial games either. So more games against strong opposition would have made the message even clearer, but if the coach cannot improve their playing style or the individuals what was there to gain. Perhaps lowering confidence even more. A tie against Japan just before the start of the WC was probably a great booster that at the end meant little. More money will help to arrange for more at home games, but if the coach is not able to use such results to change things then there is a problem more serious than either more games or more money.