Wales Set to Face Whichever Opponent in World Cup Playoff Draw
The team has won eight of their last 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semi-final and potential final challengers.
Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying pool following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.
They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any opponent after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.
"A lot of fans were wondering last night, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be incredible.
"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be challenging.
"But the sense is that we're prepared for anybody right now and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated
Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.
Albania had a solid qualification campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both times.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.
The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced the Welsh team.
Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in qualifying, and earned a point additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.
The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.
Being his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.
Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having secured 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 scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in Group F in dramatic fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with the Welsh, losing three of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
