Wales Ready to Face Anybody in World Cup Playoff Draw
Wales have secured eight of their previous 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for learning their semifinal and potential final rivals.
After finished second in their qualification group thanks to a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.
They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any opponent following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.
"A lot of people were wondering recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But personally, that could be amazing.
"So it's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be tough.
"But you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed
Wales are placed 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.
The Albanian national team had a strong qualification campaign, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers 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 reach the knockout stages on both times.
As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland finished the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.
They have never faced Wales.
Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.
Being his country's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.
The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.
And finally, we have Ireland.
After taken only a single point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in dramatic fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.