Craig Bellamy's squad Ready to Face Anyone in World Cup Qualifying Draw

Wales football team celebration

The team has secured 8 of their last 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy

The team's focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and possible final rivals.

After finished second in their qualifying group thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will welcome a match against any opponent after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"Many fans were saying recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think many people were hesitant. But for me, that would be incredible.

"It's one of those, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so it will be challenging.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

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

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

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

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their opening 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 bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure second spot in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

Ashlee Thomas
Ashlee Thomas

A passionate writer and storyteller with a background in literature, dedicated to exploring the human experience through words.