Wales Ready to Take on Anybody in World Cup Qualifying Fixture
Wales have won 8 of their recent sixteen matches under manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final rivals.
Having finished as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.
They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a match against any team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.
"Many people were saying recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think many supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be amazing.
"It's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so it will be challenging.
"However you just feel that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Potential Play-off Semifinal Opponents Assessed
The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualifying run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.
Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.
While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.
They have not yet faced the Welsh team.
Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the last game of qualification 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 loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.
Being his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.
The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.
After secured just one point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up spot in Group F in dramatic style.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.
Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
