The Welsh team Set to Face Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Playoff Fixture
Wales have secured 8 of their recent 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy
The team's focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final rivals.
After finished as runners-up in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal match on home soil.
They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will embrace a match against any team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.
"A lot of people were saying last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that could be incredible.
"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be tough.
"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Assessed
The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.
Albania had a strong qualifying run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a solitary goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.
It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the last 16 on both occasions.
As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Switzerland finished the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, 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 all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first international competition appearance.
They have not yet played the Welsh team.
Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.
Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.
Being his country's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former 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 the qualifiers with five goals.
And finally, we have Ireland.
After taken just one point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs 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 third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second spot in their group in thrilling style.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with the Welsh, losing three of those, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.