Craig Bellamy's squad Prepared to Challenge Anybody in World Cup Play-off Fixture

Wales football team celebration

Wales have secured 8 of their last sixteen matches under manager Craig Bellamy

The team's attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semi-final and potential final rivals.

Having finished second in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on home soil.

They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a tie against any team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of people were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think many people were hesitant. But personally, that would be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be difficult.

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

Possible Playoff Semifinal Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualification campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 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 ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having 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 netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean broke 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.

Jeff Howard
Jeff Howard

A passionate writer and innovation consultant sharing insights on creative processes and digital trends.