Wales Set to Take on Anybody in World Cup Play-off Fixture
The team has won eight of their previous 16 matches with manager Craig Bellamy
The team's sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.
After ended as runners-up in their qualifying group thanks to a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final encounter on their own turf.
They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against whichever team after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.
"Many people were wondering last night, 'do we really want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But for me, that would be amazing.
"It's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a very good team so they'll be tough.
"But you just feel that we'll take anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Evaluated
The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.
Albania enjoyed a strong qualification campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.
It is worth noting, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.
As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Switzerland finished the six-game campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.
Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced Wales.
Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.
Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.
Being his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.
The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.
Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.
After taken just one point from their first three qualifiers, 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 hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling style.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.
Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in three of these, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.