Wales Prepared to Challenge Anyone in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw
The team has secured eight of their recent sixteen matches under coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.
Having ended second in their qualification pool following a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on their own turf.
They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against any opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.
"A lot of people were wondering recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think many people didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.
"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be challenging.
"However you just feel that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed
The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualifying run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with three goals.
It is worth noting, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.
As Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss was at the hands of the pool winners.
The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have never faced Wales.
Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.
Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.
Being his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.
The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
Having taken just one point from their opening 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic fashion.
Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
