The Welsh team Ready to Face Whichever Opponent in World Cup Playoff Draw
Wales have won 8 of their recent 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy
The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final opponents.
After ended second in their qualifying pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf.
They will face either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will relish a tie against whichever opponent after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.
"Many people were saying last night, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that could be fantastic.
"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so they'll be challenging.
"But you just feel that we'll take anyone right now and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Potential Playoff Semifinal Rivals Assessed
The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualifying run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.
Notably, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.
While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, 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 ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.
The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.
They have not yet played Wales.
Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a points more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still finished two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.
Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.
As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's key player.
The veteran was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
After taken only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic style.
Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, defeated in three of those, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.