The Welsh team Ready to Challenge Anybody in FIFA World Cup Play-off Draw
The team has won 8 of their previous sixteen matches with manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await learning their semi-final and potential final rivals.
After ended second in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.
They will play against either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will welcome a match against any team after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.
"A lot of people were wondering last night, 'do we really want Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be incredible.
"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so it will be challenging.
"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed
The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.
The Albanian national team had a strong qualification run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in qualifying with three goals.
Importantly, Albania have never qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the knockout stages on each times.
While Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a first major tournament appearance.
They have not yet played the Welsh team.
Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.
Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a unforgettable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.
As his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.
The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.
Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having taken just one point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second spot in Group F in dramatic style.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, though 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.