Wales Ready to Face Anybody in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Fixture
The team has secured eight of their recent 16 matches with manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and possible final rivals.
After finished as runners-up in their qualification group following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on home soil.
They will face either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will relish a tie against any opponent after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.
"Many supporters were wondering recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But personally, that would be amazing.
"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so it will be difficult.
"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 Play-off Semifinal Rivals Assessed
The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualification campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing 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 the qualifiers with 3 goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Swiss ended the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.
Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.
They have never faced the Welsh team.
Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.
The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.
As his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.
The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.
Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.
After secured only a single point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed 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 third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure second spot in their group in dramatic style.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.
Ireland are without a win in their last four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
