How playoff seeds are decided:
With two pools the seeds alternate between them rather than ranking one pool against the other.
1. Each pool is placed on its own: win percentage, then head-to-head between teams that are level, then point differential per match
2. The two pools are then interleaved. The winners take seeds 1 and 2, the runners-up seeds 3 and 4, and so on
3. This keeps the pool winners at opposite ends of the bracket, and stops two teams from the same pool meeting in the first round
4. Withdrawn teams are moved below every team still playing. They cannot take a playoff spot, and a withdrawn team drawn into the bracket creates a bye
Point differential never compares one pool against the other here. It
only settles teams inside the same pool who are level on record and
head-to-head.