Wales Prepared to Challenge Anyone in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw

Wales football team celebration

The team has secured 8 of their previous 16 matches under manager Craig Bellamy

The team's attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final rivals.

After ended as runners-up in their qualifying group following a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal match on their own turf.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of people were asking last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be challenging.

"But the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania had a impressive qualification campaign, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a solitary goal.

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

Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with both not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

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

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than the Welsh managed 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 equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's historic leading scorer 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 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir HallgrĂ­msson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.

Samantha White
Samantha White

Passionate gamer and esports journalist with over a decade of experience covering competitive gaming scenes worldwide.