Craig Bellamy's squad Prepared to Take on Whichever Opponent in World Cup Play-off Fixture

The team's sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final challengers.

After ended as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"Many fans were wondering last night, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think many supporters didn't. But personally, that would be incredible.

"So it's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so it will be challenging.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

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

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualifying campaign, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

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

The Swiss ended the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in qualifying, and earned a points more than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs 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 third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his own.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.