The Welsh team Prepared to Face Anyone in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw
The team has won 8 of their previous sixteen matches with manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' focus are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semifinal and possible final rivals.
Having finished second in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on their own turf.
They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a match against whichever team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.
"Many supporters were wondering recently, 'do we really want Ireland because of that local feel?'. I think a number of supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be incredible.
"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so it will be difficult.
"However you just feel that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Assessed
Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.
Albania had a strong qualification campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.
It is worth noting, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to reach the last 16 on each times.
While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Swiss ended the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.
Kosovo include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.
They have never faced Wales.
Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.
Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.
Being his nation's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.
The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having secured only a single point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott scored 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 stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in dramatic style.
Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his to keep.
The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, although 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.