The Welsh team Set to Face Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Play-off Draw

The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final opponents.

Having ended second in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a match against whichever opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many fans were saying last night, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that local feel?'. I think many supporters didn't. But for me, that could be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so it will be difficult.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

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

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a unforgettable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

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

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his own.

Ireland are without a win in their past 4 encounters with the Welsh, losing three of those, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.