Wales Ready to Face Anyone in FIFA World Cup Playoff Fixture

Wales' attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final challengers.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will welcome a match against any opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of fans were wondering last night, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that could be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so it will be challenging.

"However the sense is that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

Wales are placed 34th in the world standings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualifying run, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, Albania have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second spot in Group F 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.

Ireland are winless in their past four meetings with Wales, losing 3 of those, though 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.