Wales Prepared to Take on Anyone in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Fixture

Wales football team celebration

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

The team's focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semi-final and possible final rivals.

Having ended second in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a match against whichever opponent following their most recent result 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.

"Many fans were wondering last night, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so they'll be challenging.

"However the sense is that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Opponents Assessed

Wales sit 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualification run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed 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 more notable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker 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 featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

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

The Swiss ended the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point additional than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his nation's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with Wales, losing three of those, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

David Oconnell
David Oconnell

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