Wales Prepared to Face Anyone in FIFA World Cup Playoff Fixture

Wales football team celebration

The team has won 8 of their recent 16 matches under manager Craig Bellamy

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

Having ended second in their qualifying group thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a tie against whichever team after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of fans were saying last night, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But personally, that would be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so they'll be difficult.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualifying campaign, with their sole losses 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 part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners.

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

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After secured just one point from their first 3 qualifiers, 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 third goal coming 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 had a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.

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

Eric Thomas
Eric Thomas

Elara is a passionate environmental writer and wellness coach, dedicated to sharing sustainable living tips and mindfulness practices.