Craig Bellamy's squad Set to Take on Anyone in FIFA World Cup Play-off Fixture
The team has secured eight of their recent 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' focus are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and possible final opponents.
After finished second in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.
They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.
"A lot of fans were asking last night, 'do we actually want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be incredible.
"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so they'll be tough.
"But you just feel that we'll take anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed
Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.
The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualification campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.
As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Swiss finished the six-match campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.
Kosovo include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have never faced Wales.
Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.
The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.
As his country's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having secured only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir HallgrÃmsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.
The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.