The Welsh team Prepared to Challenge Anybody in World Cup Playoff Fixture
Wales have won 8 of their recent 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semifinal and potential final opponents.
Having finished second in their qualifying group thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.
They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will embrace a tie against any opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.
"A lot of supporters were asking last night, 'do we really want Ireland because of that local feel?'. I think many people didn't. But for me, that would be amazing.
"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be difficult.
"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Assessed
Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualification run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.
Notably, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both times.
As Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland finished the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.
Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced the Welsh team.
Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and earned 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 securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.
The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.
As his country's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
Having taken just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.
The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.