Wales Ready to Take on Anybody in World Cup Qualifying Fixture
Wales have won 8 of their previous sixteen matches under coach Craig Bellamy
The team's focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final challengers.
After ended second in their qualifying group following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on home soil.
They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a tie against whichever team after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.
"A lot of people were saying recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that local feel?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be amazing.
"So it's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be tough.
"But you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Assessed
The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.
The Albanian national team had a solid qualifying run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.
It is worth noting, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Swiss finished the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have never played Wales.
Bosnia were defeated only one time in qualifying, and earned a points more than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.
Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.
Being his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.
The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
And finally, we have Ireland.
Having secured only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure runner-up place in Group F in dramatic fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, losing three of these, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.