Wales Prepared to Take on Whichever Opponent in World Cup Play-off Draw
The team has secured eight of their recent 16 matches with manager Craig Bellamy
The team's sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for learning their semi-final and possible final rivals.
Having ended second in their qualification pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on their own turf.
They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.
"A lot of fans were wondering last night, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think a number of supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be fantastic.
"It's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so it will be challenging.
"But you just feel that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
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The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.
The Albanian national team had a impressive qualifying run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without conceding a solitary goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.
As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Swiss finished the six-match campaign three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced the Welsh team.
Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift 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 meant the pair tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.
As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.
The 39-year-old was his team's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
After secured just one point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second place in Group F in thrilling style.
Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his to keep.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four meetings with Wales, losing three of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
