Wales Ready to Face Anybody in FIFA World Cup Play-off Draw

Wales' focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.

Having finished second in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any opponent after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of supporters were saying recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be amazing.

"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be challenging.

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

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualification campaign, with their only 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 Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a team targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a point more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.