Craig Bellamy's squad Prepared to Challenge Anyone in World Cup Qualifying Fixture
Wales have won eight of their last sixteen matches under coach Craig Bellamy
The team's sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final rivals.
After ended as runners-up in their qualification pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter 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 thinks the Dragons will relish a tie against whichever team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.
"Many fans were saying recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But for me, that could be fantastic.
"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so it will be difficult.
"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Potential Play-off Semifinal Rivals Evaluated
Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.
Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.
It is worth noting, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.
As Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.
Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have not yet played Wales.
Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.
As his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.
The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having taken only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted both 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 stunned Hungary to secure second place in their group in thrilling style.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his to keep.
Ireland are without a win in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
