🔗 Share this article

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

Having ended second in their qualification group following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a match against any opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of people were wondering recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But for me, that would be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be difficult.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualifying run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still finished 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have not managed to beat 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 losing.

As his nation's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After secured just one point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – 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 had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.