🔗 Share this article Craig Bellamy's squad Prepared to Face Anybody in World Cup Playoff Draw The team has secured eight of their recent sixteen matches under coach Craig Bellamy Wales' focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final opponents. Having ended as runners-up in their qualifying group following a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf. They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March. Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium. "I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented. "Many supporters were asking last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But for me, that could be incredible. "It's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so they'll be challenging. "However you just feel that we're prepared for anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy." Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th. Albania enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal. The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals. Notably, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on both occasions. While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team. The Switzerland finished the six-game qualifiers 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners. The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance. They have not yet played Wales. Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria. They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group. Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing. Being his nation's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player. The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals. Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland. Having 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 the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure second place in Group F in dramatic fashion. Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own. The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.