Craig Bellamy's squad Set to Challenge Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Play-off Fixture
Wales have won 8 of their last 16 matches with manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they await learning their semi-final and possible final opponents.
Having finished second in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on home soil.
They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a match against any team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.
"Many fans were wondering last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But personally, that would be incredible.
"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so it will be tough.
"But you just feel that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Evaluated
The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.
The Albanian national team had a impressive qualifying campaign, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a solitary goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.
Notably, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each occasions.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Swiss finished the six-match qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.
The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have never faced Wales.
Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still finished two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.
Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.
The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
After taken just one point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs 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 triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in thrilling fashion.
Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.
Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.