Craig Bellamy's squad Prepared to Take on Whichever Opponent in World Cup Playoff Draw

Wales football team celebration

The team has won 8 of their recent 16 matches with manager Craig Bellamy

The team's attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they await learning their semi-final and potential final rivals.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on their own turf.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"Many fans were wondering recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be tough.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

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

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-match qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his nation's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in dramatic style.

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

Ireland are without a win in their past 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in three of those, although 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.

Dylan Roberts
Dylan Roberts

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