Wales Ready to Take on Anyone in World Cup Playoff Fixture
The team has secured eight of their previous sixteen matches under coach Craig Bellamy
The team's attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final opponents.
After finished second in their qualifying pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.
They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.
"A lot of people were saying recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. I think many supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.
"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be difficult.
"However the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Potential Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed
The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in qualifying with three goals.
Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.
As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Swiss ended the six-match qualifiers three points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have never played the Welsh team.
Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.
The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.
As his nation's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.
The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.
And finally, we have Ireland.
Having taken only a single point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs 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 hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic style.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his own.
Ireland are without a win in their last four meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
