Wales Prepared to Take on Anyone in FIFA World Cup Playoff Fixture
The team has won eight of their recent 16 matches under manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they await learning their semifinal and possible final challengers.
After finished second in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on their own turf.
They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will relish a tie against whichever team after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.
"A lot of supporters were wondering last night, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view many people didn't. But personally, that could be incredible.
"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so it will be challenging.
"However you just feel that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed
The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualifying run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals.
Importantly, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Swiss finished the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.
Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced Wales.
Bosnia were defeated only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points more than Wales managed in their eight games, but still finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.
Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four matches but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.
As his nation's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.
The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.
And finally, we have Ireland.
Having taken just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take runner-up place in Group F in thrilling fashion.
Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.
Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing three of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.