Craig Bellamy's squad Prepared to Take on Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw
The team has won eight of their recent 16 matches under manager Craig Bellamy
Wales' sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final rivals.
Having ended second in their qualifying group thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.
They will play against either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.
Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a tie against any opponent following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.
"Many supporters were wondering recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think many people didn't. But for me, that would be fantastic.
"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be challenging.
"But the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Reviewed
The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.
The Albanian national team had a solid qualifying campaign, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum 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, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with three goals.
Importantly, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.
As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Swiss ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.
The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.
They have never faced Wales.
Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.
The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.
Being his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.
The 39-year-old was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.
Lastly, we have Ireland.
After taken only a single 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 Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in their group in dramatic style.
Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.
The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with Wales, defeated in three of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.