Wales Prepared to Challenge Anybody in World Cup Play-off Draw
Wales have secured 8 of their recent 16 matches with manager Craig Bellamy
The team's focus are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semi-final and potential final opponents.
Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on home soil.
They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against any opponent after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.
"A lot of supporters were asking recently, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think many supporters didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.
"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so they'll be difficult.
"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed
The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.
The Albanian national team had a strong qualifying run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without allowing a solitary goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.
Importantly, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced Wales.
Bosnia were defeated only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.
As his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.
The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.
Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having taken only a single point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in thrilling style.
Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.