Wales Ready to Face Anybody in FIFA World Cup Playoff Fixture

Wales' focus are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.

After finished second in their qualifying group following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a tie against whichever team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of fans were saying recently, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that could be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be difficult.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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Wales sit 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualifying run, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

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

While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

Being his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in Group F in dramatic style.

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

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four encounters with Wales, defeated in three of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.