Wales Set to Face Anybody in World Cup Playoff Draw

The team's attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.

After ended as runners-up in their qualifying group thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

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

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of fans were saying last night, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that would be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so it will be difficult.

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

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a impressive qualifying campaign, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose single loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a point additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own.

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