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

Wales football team celebration

The team has secured eight of their recent sixteen matches with coach Craig Bellamy

The team's focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semi-final and possible final rivals.

Having ended second in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a match against any opponent following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of supporters were saying last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that would be incredible.

"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so it will be challenging.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

Albania had a strong qualification run, with their sole 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 players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although 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 torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his nation's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed 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 arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in their group in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.

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

Richard Garner
Richard Garner

A passionate writer and traveler sharing insights on UK culture and lifestyle, with a love for storytelling and community building.