Wales Ready to Face Anyone in World Cup Playoff Draw
Wales have secured 8 of their recent 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy
The team's attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final rivals.
After finished second in their qualification pool following a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on home soil.
They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will relish a tie against whichever team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.
"Many people were asking recently, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But for me, that could be incredible.
"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so they'll be difficult.
"But the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed
The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualification campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum 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 more notable players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.
Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.
As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland finished the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners.
Kosovo include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a first major tournament appearance.
They have not yet faced the Welsh team.
Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.
Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.
Being his country's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having taken only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson'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 final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in dramatic fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.
The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.