🔗 Share this article

Wales' focus are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final challengers.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on home soil.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a tie against any team after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of people were wondering recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so it will be challenging.

"But you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

Wales sit 34th in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification campaign, with their sole defeats suffered 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 former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still finished 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his nation's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their past four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.