A more serious assessment of the new old qualifying format

Yes, I know I was a little flip in my last post on the World Cup qualifying format, so it's time to write something more serious. First of all, here is the new format: First Round: National teams ranked 26-35 (10 teams) will play in five two-leg series. Second Round: National teams ranked 7-25 (19 teams) will join the five winners from the First Round.