The Welsh team Ready to Face Anyone in World Cup Qualifying Fixture

The team's attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final opponents.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group following a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a tie against whichever opponent following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of supporters were wondering recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But personally, that would be amazing.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be challenging.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualification campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland finished the six-game qualifiers 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their opening 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last four meetings with Wales, defeated in three of these, 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.