The Welsh team Prepared to Face Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw

Wales football team celebration

The team has secured eight of their recent 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy

The team's attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and possible final rivals.

Having finished second in their qualifying pool following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will relish a match against any team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of supporters were asking recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But for me, that would be incredible.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be tough.

"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 Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a strong qualifying run, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-match campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in qualifying, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

The 39-year-old was his team's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure second place in their group in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, defeated in three of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

Jason Myers
Jason Myers

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