Craig Bellamy's squad Prepared to Challenge Anybody in World Cup Playoff Draw

The team's attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final opponents.

Having finished second in their qualifying pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will relish a match against any opponent after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of fans were wondering last night, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that local feel?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that could be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be tough.

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

Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot 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 occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-game campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

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

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of these, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.