The Welsh team Ready to Challenge Anyone in FIFA World Cup Play-off Draw

The team's sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they await learning their semi-final and possible final opponents.

After finished second in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against whichever team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many fans were saying recently, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be amazing.

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

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

Wales sit 34th in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualifying run, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

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

Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair drew 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 attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

Being his nation's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in Group F in dramatic fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, 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.