Wales Prepared to Take on Anybody in World Cup Qualifying Draw

The team's focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.

Having ended second in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will relish a match against whichever opponent 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 whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"Many people were saying recently, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. I think many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, of course, they're a strong team so it will be challenging.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single loss 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 squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a points more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing three of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.