Wales Set to Face Whichever Opponent in World Cup Play-off Fixture
The team has won 8 of their last 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy
The team's sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final opponents.
Having ended as runners-up in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.
They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a tie against whichever team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.
"A lot of fans were asking last night, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But for me, that would be fantastic.
"It's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be tough.
"However you just feel that we'll take anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
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Wales are placed 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.
Albania enjoyed a strong qualification campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed 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 prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.
It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.
While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland finished the six-match campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.
The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.
They have not yet faced the Welsh team.
Bosnia were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.
Being his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.
The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
Having secured just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take 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 goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his own.
The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing three of these, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.