Wales Set to Face Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Fixture
Wales have won 8 of their last 16 matches under manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they await learning their semi-final and potential final opponents.
Having finished second in their qualifying group following a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on their own turf.
They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a tie against any team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.
"Many fans were asking recently, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But for me, that would be fantastic.
"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so they'll be challenging.
"But the sense is that we're prepared for anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Evaluated
The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.
The Albanian national team had a strong qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's more notable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.
Importantly, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on each times.
As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.
Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.
They have not yet played the Welsh team.
Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a point additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but still finished two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.
Being his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having taken just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back 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 third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in dramatic fashion.
Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with the Welsh, losing three of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.