Wales Set to Take on Anybody in FIFA World Cup Playoff Draw
The team has secured 8 of their last 16 matches with manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final challengers.
Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final match on home soil.
They will meet 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 match against any opponent following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.
"Many supporters were saying recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But for me, that would be incredible.
"So it's one of those, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be difficult.
"However 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."
Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed
The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.
Albania had a strong qualification run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a solitary goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.
As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Swiss ended the six-game campaign three points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.
Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.
They have never played the Welsh team.
Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but still finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.
The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.
Being his nation's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.
The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
After secured just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second place in their group in dramatic style.
Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.
Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
