Craig Bellamy's squad Prepared to Challenge Anybody in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Fixture

Wales football team celebration

The team has secured eight of their previous 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy

The team's attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final challengers.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group following a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a tie against whichever team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of fans were saying last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that could be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be difficult.

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

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Assessed

Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 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 allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

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

The Swiss finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a point additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but still 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 leveler for the Austrians ensured 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 matches but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

After taken just one point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second spot in Group F in dramatic style.

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

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with the Welsh, 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.

Eric Walker
Eric Walker

A physicist and gaming enthusiast passionate about making quantum concepts accessible to all through creative storytelling.