The Welsh team Set to Challenge Anyone in World Cup Play-off Draw

Wales' focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final rivals.

After finished as runners-up in their qualification pool following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on home soil.

They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a match against whichever opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of people were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be difficult.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Reviewed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

Albania had a strong qualification run, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

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

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his country's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in Group F in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.