Craig Bellamy's squad Ready to Take on Anybody in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw
The team has won eight of their previous 16 matches with manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final rivals.
After finished second in their qualifying pool following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on their own turf.
They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a tie against whichever opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.
"Many fans were saying last night, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think many supporters didn't. But personally, that could be amazing.
"So it's one of those, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so it will be challenging.
"But the sense is that we'll take anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Playoff Semifinal Rivals Assessed
The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.
Albania had a impressive qualification run, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.
Notably, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers three points clear of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.
Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced Wales.
Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a point additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.
Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.
As his nation's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's key player.
The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
After secured only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side surged 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 bagging a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.
The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
