Craig Bellamy's squad Set to Challenge Anyone in World Cup Qualifying Draw
Wales have won eight of their last sixteen matches with coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final rivals.
Having ended second in their qualifying group following a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on home soil.
They will play against either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will relish a match against any opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.
"A lot of fans were saying last night, 'should we really want Ireland because of that local feel?'. I think a number of supporters were hesitant. But for me, that could be fantastic.
"It's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be challenging.
"However the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Evaluated
The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.
The Albanian national team had a impressive qualification campaign, with their only losses coming 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 more notable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.
Notably, Albania have never qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on both times.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have not yet played Wales.
Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.
Being his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.
The veteran was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
And finally, we have Ireland.
Having taken only a single 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 netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in thrilling fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.
The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with Wales, losing three of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
