The Welsh team Set to Take on Anyone in World Cup Play-off Draw
Wales have secured 8 of their last 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy
The team's focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final rivals.
After finished second in their qualification group following a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.
They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any opponent after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.
"Many supporters were wondering last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be incredible.
"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so they'll be challenging.
"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Assessed
Wales sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.
Albania enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.
Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.
As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Swiss ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss was at the hands of the pool winners.
Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.
They have not yet played the Welsh team.
Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.
As his country's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
Having secured only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second place in their group in dramatic style.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his to keep.
Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
