Wales Ready to Challenge Anyone in FIFA World Cup Play-off Fixture

Wales football team celebration

Wales have secured 8 of their recent 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy

The team's attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await learning their semi-final and potential final challengers.

Having finished second in their qualification group following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any opponent after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"Many people were wondering last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But for me, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so they'll be challenging.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualification run, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification 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 defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but still finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs 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 final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

James White
James White

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