Wales Prepared to Challenge Anybody in FIFA World Cup Playoff Fixture

Wales football team celebration

The team has won 8 of their recent 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy

The team's focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final opponents.

Having ended second in their qualification group following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any opponent after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many people were wondering last night, 'should we really want Ireland because of that local feel?'. I think a number of people didn't. But for me, that could be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be difficult.

"But the sense is that we'll take anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania had a strong qualification campaign, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in qualifying with three goals.

Notably, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind 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 drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

Being his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second spot in their group in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing three of these, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

John Johnson
John Johnson

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