The Welsh team Prepared to Challenge Whichever Opponent in World Cup Playoff Draw

The team's sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final challengers.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying group following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a tie against any opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many supporters were wondering recently, 'do we really want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be tough.

"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."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant 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 four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his nation's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs 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 third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take runner-up spot in Group F in dramatic style.

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

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.