Craig Bellamy's squad Ready to Face Anyone in World Cup Play-off Fixture
Wales have won 8 of their recent 16 matches under manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for learning their semifinal and potential final challengers.
After finished as runners-up in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal match on home soil.
They will face either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever team after their latest result 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 stated.
"Many supporters were asking recently, 'do we really want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be amazing.
"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so it will be tough.
"However you just feel that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed
The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualifying run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum 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 prominent names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in qualifying with 3 goals.
Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to reach the last 16 on both times.
As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.
Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a first international competition appearance.
They have not yet played Wales.
Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a point more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.
As his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.
The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
After secured only a single point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in dramatic style.
Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in three of these, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
