Craig Bellamy's squad Prepared to Face Anyone in World Cup Play-off Fixture

Wales football team celebration

The team has secured eight of their last sixteen matches with manager Craig Bellamy

The team's focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final opponents.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will relish a match against whichever team after their most recent 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 commented.

"Many people were wondering recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so they'll be difficult.

"However the sense is that we'll take anyone right now and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualifying campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a point more than Wales managed in their eight games, but still ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second spot in their group in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his own.

Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing three of those, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

Daniel Payne
Daniel Payne

Lena is a passionate writer and observer of everyday life, sharing her unique perspectives to inspire and connect with readers.