Yep it probably would but at least they can have a decent chance at winning something..
As for incentive even winning against lower teams can raise your rankings, raise them enough and you have a cross-over point as where they could enter a higher competition..
I never said it was a perfect idea or even workable but I'm sure that some modern day competitions were viewed that way when it first started and possible had similar roots
Watching the match I just felt sorry for the Moldovan team and was shocked at some of the media comments