Craig Bellamy's squad Ready to Face Anyone in World Cup Qualifying Fixture

The team's attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

After finished second in their qualification pool following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a match against any team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of supporters were saying last night, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But for me, that could be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so they'll be difficult.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points more than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his nation'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 squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs 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 Irish surprised Hungary to secure second place in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of those, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.