Wales Prepared to Face Whichever Opponent in World Cup Qualifying Draw
The team has won 8 of their last sixteen matches under manager Craig Bellamy
The team's sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and possible final challengers.
After ended as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on their own turf.
They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a match against whichever team after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.
"Many fans were wondering last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view many people didn't. But for me, that would be incredible.
"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so it will be tough.
"However the sense is that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Reviewed
The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.
Albania had a impressive qualification campaign, with their sole losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.
While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.
The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.
Kosovo feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.
They have never faced the Welsh team.
Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.
Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but experienced a unforgettable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.
Being his nation's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.
The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
Having secured only a single point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted the two 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 surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in thrilling style.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.
Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in three of these, 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.