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

Wales football team celebration

Wales have won eight of their recent 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy

The team's attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

After ended as runners-up in their qualifying group following a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will relish a tie against any team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of people were wondering recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters were hesitant. But for me, that could be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be tough.

"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 Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a strong qualification run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, Albania have never earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-game campaign 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 nation's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

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

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

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his nation's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure second place in their group in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with Wales, losing three of those, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

Jamie Gonzalez
Jamie Gonzalez

A skilled artisan and writer blending woodcraft with narrative arts to inspire creativity in everyday life.