Wales Set to Challenge Anyone in FIFA World Cup Play-off Fixture
Wales have won 8 of their recent sixteen matches with manager Craig Bellamy
The team's attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final rivals.
Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying group following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on their own turf.
They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will embrace a match against whichever team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.
"A lot of people were saying recently, 'do we actually want Ireland as it's that local feel?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be incredible.
"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so it will be challenging.
"But the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Potential Play-off Semifinal Rivals Reviewed
Wales sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.
Albania enjoyed a strong qualification campaign, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.
It is worth noting, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on each times.
While Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Swiss finished the six-match qualifiers 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.
Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team targeting a first major tournament appearance.
They have never played the Welsh team.
Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a point additional than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.
Being his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- 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.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
Having taken just one point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure second spot in their group in thrilling fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.
Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
