Wales Set to Face Anybody in World Cup Playoff Fixture

Wales football team celebration

The team has secured eight of their recent 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy

The team's attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final rivals.

After ended second in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on their own turf.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a tie against any team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of fans were asking recently, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so it will be difficult.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semifinal Rivals Reviewed

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

Albania had a impressive qualifying campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side'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 goal chart in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat 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 leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point additional than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but still ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his nation's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured 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 Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing three of these, though James McClean shattered 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.

Brandon Shaffer
Brandon Shaffer

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