Craig Bellamy's squad Set to Face Anybody in World Cup Play-off Fixture

Wales football team celebration

The team has secured 8 of their last 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy

Wales' focus are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final rivals.

After ended second in their qualifying pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a match against whichever opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many fans were asking last night, 'do we really want Ireland because of that local feel?'. I think many supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be tough.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualification campaign, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group 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 Red and Blacks's prominent names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-game qualifiers three points clear of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, defeated in three of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

Danielle Jimenez
Danielle Jimenez

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