Wales Prepared to Challenge Anyone in World Cup Playoff Fixture
Wales have secured eight of their previous 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy
The team's focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and possible final challengers.
Having finished second in their qualification group thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final match on their own turf.
They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will welcome a tie against any opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.
"A lot of supporters were asking last night, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. I think many people were hesitant. But for me, that would be amazing.
"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so it will be challenging.
"But the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Potential Playoff Semifinal Rivals Assessed
Wales sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.
Albania enjoyed a solid qualifying campaign, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among 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 3 goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.
As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Swiss ended the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced Wales.
Bosnia were defeated only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.
Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.
As his country's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.
The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
After taken just one point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second place in Group F in thrilling fashion.
Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of those, though 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.