Wales Ready to Take on Anyone in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Fixture
Wales have secured eight of their previous 16 matches under manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and potential final rivals.
Having ended as runners-up in their qualification pool following a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on home soil.
They will face either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a match against any opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.
"A lot of supporters were wondering recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that could be fantastic.
"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be challenging.
"But you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed
Wales are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.
Albania enjoyed a impressive qualifying campaign, with their only losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.
While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Swiss finished the six-game campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.
Kosovo feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.
They have never faced Wales.
Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.
The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.
As his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.
The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.
And finally, we have Ireland.
After secured only a single point from their opening 3 matches, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in dramatic style.
Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.
Ireland are without a win in their last four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.