Wales Set to Face Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw
The team has secured eight of their last sixteen matches with coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final challengers.
Having finished as runners-up in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final encounter on home soil.
They will play against either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will relish a tie against any opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.
"A lot of supporters were saying last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But for me, that could be amazing.
"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Ireland, of course, they're a strong team so they'll be tough.
"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 standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.
The Albanian national team had a solid qualification campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on both times.
While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.
The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced Wales.
Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a points more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind 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 last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.
Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.
Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.
And finally, we have Ireland.
After secured only a single point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side stormed 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 third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in dramatic style.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his to keep.
Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
