Wales Ready to Face Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Playoff Draw

Wales' attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semi-final and possible final opponents.

Having finished second in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on home soil.

They will play against either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a match against any team following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of supporters were saying recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. In my view many people didn't. But personally, that could be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so they'll be challenging.

"But you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Rivals Reviewed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

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

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with each failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-game campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in qualifying, and claimed a point more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The 39-year-old was his team's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs 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 arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his own.

Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in three of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.