The Welsh team Set to Challenge Anybody in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw
Wales have won 8 of their last sixteen matches with manager Craig Bellamy
The team's attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final rivals.
After finished second in their qualifying group following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on home soil.
They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a match against any team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.
"A lot of supporters were asking recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that could be amazing.
"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be difficult.
"However you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed
The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.
Albania enjoyed a solid qualifying run, with their only losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.
It is worth noting, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both times.
While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have never played Wales.
Bosnia were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.
Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.
As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.
The veteran was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.
Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having taken only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, 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 final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second place in Group F in dramatic fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his own.
Ireland are winless in their past four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
