đź”— Share this article Wales Ready to Face Anyone in World Cup Play-off Draw The team has won eight of their last 16 matches under manager Craig Bellamy The team's focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and potential final opponents. Having finished second in their qualification group following a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on home soil. They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March. Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium. "I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented. "A lot of fans were asking last night, 'do we actually want Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that would be incredible. "So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so it will be challenging. "But the sense is that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy." Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed Wales sit 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth. The Albanian national team had a impressive qualifying campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a single goal. The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals. Notably, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on both occasions. As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo. The Swiss ended the six-match campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners. Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance. They have not yet played Wales. Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a point additional than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but still ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria. They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool. The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing. As his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player. The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals. And finally, we have Republic of Ireland. After secured only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side stormed 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 Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in thrilling style. Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his to keep. The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.