Wales Prepared to Challenge Anyone in World Cup Play-off Fixture
Wales have won eight of their previous sixteen matches with coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semi-final and potential final opponents.
Having ended as runners-up in their qualification pool following a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on home soil.
They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will welcome a match against whichever team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.
"A lot of fans were asking last night, 'do we really want Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view many people didn't. But personally, that could be amazing.
"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so they'll be challenging.
"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Assessed
The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.
Albania enjoyed a solid qualification campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.
Notably, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.
Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.
They have never played Wales.
Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, 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 a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.
The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.
Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
After taken just one point from their opening 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic style.
Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own.
Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.