The Welsh team Prepared to Take on Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw
The team has won eight of their last 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and potential final opponents.
Having ended second in their qualification pool following a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on their own turf.
They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any team 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 stated.
"Many fans were asking recently, 'do we actually want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.
"It's one of those, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so it will be tough.
"However you just feel that we're prepared for anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated
The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualifying campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.
Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each times.
While Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers three points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.
Kosovo include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a first international competition appearance.
They have not yet played the Welsh team.
Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a point more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended two points behind of their group 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 meant the pair drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.
As his nation's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.
The veteran was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
Having secured only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir HallgrĂmsson'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 bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in dramatic style.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his to keep.
Ireland are winless in their past four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
