Craig Bellamy's squad Ready to Take on Anyone in FIFA World Cup Playoff Fixture

Wales football team celebration

The team has secured 8 of their recent sixteen matches with manager Craig Bellamy

The team's attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.

After ended as runners-up in their qualifying group following a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on home soil.

They will play against either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will relish a match against whichever team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many people were asking recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think many people didn't. But personally, that could be amazing.

"So it's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be challenging.

"But 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."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Assessed

Wales are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their sole losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson'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 final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second spot in Group F in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, losing three of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

Jeremy White
Jeremy White

Lena is a seasoned sports analyst with a passion for data-driven betting strategies and helping others make informed wagers.