Wales Ready to Challenge Anybody in World Cup Qualifying Fixture

Wales football team celebration

Wales have won eight of their last 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy

The team's sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and possible final opponents.

Having ended second in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against any opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of supporters were saying last night, 'do we actually want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters were hesitant. But for me, that could be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so they'll be tough.

"However you just feel that we'll take anyone right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

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Wales sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

Albania had a solid qualification campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult runs, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers three points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

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

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a points more than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of Group H 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 teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his nation's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After taken just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in three of those, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

Shelley English
Shelley English

A passionate traveler and writer with over a decade of experience documenting unique cultural encounters worldwide.