Craig Bellamy's squad Ready to Face Anyone in World Cup Playoff Draw
Wales have secured 8 of their previous 16 matches under manager Craig Bellamy
The team's attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and potential final opponents.
Having ended second in their qualification group following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on home soil.
They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a match against any team following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.
"Many supporters were asking recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. I think many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be incredible.
"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so they'll be challenging.
"However the sense is that we'll take anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."
Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed
The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.
Albania enjoyed a solid qualification run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.
Notably, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on each times.
As Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Switzerland finished the six-game qualifiers 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the group winners.
Kosovo include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced Wales.
Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a point additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a unforgettable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.
As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having taken only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson'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 scoring a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in thrilling fashion.
Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.
Ireland are without a win in their last four encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.