Craig Bellamy's squad Set to Face Whichever Opponent in World Cup Playoff Fixture
The team has won 8 of their last sixteen matches under manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they await learning their semifinal and potential final rivals.
After finished second in their qualifying group thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on home soil.
They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against any team after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.
"A lot of people were saying last night, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that local feel?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that could be amazing.
"So it's one of those, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be challenging.
"However you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed
Wales sit 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualification campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.
While Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Swiss ended the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.
They have never played Wales.
Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of Group H winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.
The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.
Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's key player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
Having secured just one point from their first three matches, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in thrilling fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
