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

The team's sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final opponents.

After ended second in their qualification group following a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of people were asking recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But personally, that could be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, of course, they're a very good team so it will be challenging.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Rivals Evaluated

Wales sit 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualifying run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

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

Importantly, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

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

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points adrift of their group 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 qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

The 39-year-old was his team's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.