🔗 Share this article

The team's sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.

Having finished second in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a match against any team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of fans were asking last night, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be incredible.

"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so it will be difficult.

"But you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team had a impressive qualifying campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.

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

The Switzerland finished the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

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

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

Being his country's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.