Wales Prepared to Take on Anyone in FIFA World Cup Play-off Draw
The team has won 8 of their previous 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy
The team's attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final opponents.
Having ended second in their qualifying pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.
They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a match against any opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.
"A lot of people were wondering last night, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that would be incredible.
"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so they'll be challenging.
"However you just feel that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed
The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualifying run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.
Importantly, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Swiss ended the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.
The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have never played the Welsh team.
Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.
Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.
Being his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.
The 39-year-old was his team's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having secured only a single point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored the two 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 stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in dramatic fashion.
Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.
The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last four meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
