Winning a Match vs. Winning Strategically

[FIMAlumni]

I was the coach for a team that was ranked first an a competition last year with a very close second ranked team. During our last match we needed the win and the Co-Op points to grab the first seed. The other Alliance was going to forget about the coop bridge in an attempt to showcase a triple balance. Leaving us ranked second. We were lucky that the other alliance was 3 long robots and decided to Co-op instead.
A similar situation at the same competition, the number 2 team and a team ranked just out of the top 8, but a great pick where competing together late on Saturday. They refused to Co-op with the number 2 seed and explained to their partners why, who all refused to Co-op. After the match the team came up to me and said they don't expect us to pick them, but they would rather have us in the first seed.