Wales Ready to Take on Anybody in World Cup Play-off Fixture
The team has won 8 of their recent 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy
The team's focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and possible final challengers.
After ended second in their qualifying pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on home soil.
They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will relish a tie against whichever opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.
"A lot of people were wondering last night, 'do we really want Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that could be incredible.
"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are 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 much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed
Wales are placed 34th in the world standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.
Albania had a solid qualifying campaign, with their only losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured 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 more notable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.
It is worth noting, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the last 16 on both times.
As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with both not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.
The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced Wales.
Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.
The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.
As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.
The veteran was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
And finally, we have Ireland.
Having secured just one point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with the Welsh, losing three of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.