Wales Set to Take on Anybody in World Cup Qualifying Fixture

Wales football team celebration

The team has secured eight of their previous 16 matches with manager Craig Bellamy

The team's attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semi-final and potential final challengers.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification pool following a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a match against any team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of supporters were asking last night, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so they'll be difficult.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualifying campaign, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both times.

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

The Swiss ended the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a point more than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their opening 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with Wales, losing 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

Denise Hill
Denise Hill

A quantum physicist and data analyst passionate about merging cutting-edge science with practical betting insights.