Wales Set to Face Anyone in World Cup Play-off Fixture
Wales have won eight of their last sixteen matches with coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final challengers.
After ended second in their qualification pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final encounter on home soil.
They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against any opponent after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.
"A lot of people were saying recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be incredible.
"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a strong team so they'll be tough.
"But the sense is that we'll take anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
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The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.
Albania had a impressive qualification campaign, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a solitary goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.
Notably, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with each 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 defeat was at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad 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 major tournament appearance.
They have never faced Wales.
Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a points more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.
Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.
Being his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.
The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.
And finally, we have Ireland.
Having taken just one point from their opening three 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 stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.
The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of those, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
