Wales Ready to Take on Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Playoff Fixture
Wales have won eight of their last 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final opponents.
Having finished second in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal match on home soil.
They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever opponent after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.
"A lot of people were wondering recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that would be amazing.
"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be tough.
"However the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Potential Playoff Semifinal Rivals Evaluated
The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.
Albania had a strong qualification run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on both occasions.
While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Swiss finished the six-match campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.
Kosovo feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.
They have never played Wales.
Bosnia lost only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.
Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.
As his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having secured just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side stormed into the play-offs 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 had a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his own.
Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
