The Welsh team Set to Face Anyone in World Cup Playoff Fixture
The team has won 8 of their last sixteen matches under coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semi-final and potential final opponents.
Having ended second in their qualification pool thanks to 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 meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a tie against any team after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.
"Many supporters were saying recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think many supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.
"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so it will be challenging.
"However the sense is that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
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The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualifying campaign, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the last 16 on both times.
As Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland finished the six-match campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper 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-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.
Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.
Being his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's key player.
The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.
After secured just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir HallgrÃmsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted 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 runner-up place in Group F in thrilling style.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.
Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with Wales, losing three of these, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
