Wales Ready to Take on Anyone in FIFA World Cup Play-off Draw

Wales football team celebration

Wales have secured eight of their previous 16 matches under manager Craig Bellamy

The team's focus are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semi-final and potential final rivals.

After ended as runners-up in their qualification pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on home soil.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any team after their most recent performance 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 saying last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think many supporters didn't. But for me, that could be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, of course, they're a very good team so it will be tough.

"But you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a solid qualification campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal.

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

Importantly, 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 occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a point additional than the Welsh 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 spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

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

The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

Steven Cunningham
Steven Cunningham

A passionate aerospace engineer and writer, sharing discoveries and trends in space exploration and tech.

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