🔗 Share this article

The team's focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final opponents.

Having finished second in their qualifying pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on home soil.

They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will welcome a match against whichever opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many supporters were saying recently, 'do we really want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so they'll be difficult.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Rivals Evaluated

Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a strong qualification campaign, with their only losses 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 prominent names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a points more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points adrift 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 pair drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his country's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in three of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.