đź”— Share this article Craig Bellamy's squad Prepared to Challenge Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Playoff Draw Wales have won 8 of their previous sixteen matches under coach Craig Bellamy The team's attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semifinal and possible final opponents. Having finished second in their qualifying pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf. They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March. Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will welcome a match against whichever team after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium. "I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said. "A lot of people were asking last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But personally, that would be amazing. "It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, of course, they're a strong team so it will be difficult. "But you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy." Possible Play-off Semi-final Rivals Reviewed Wales sit 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th. Albania had a solid qualifying campaign, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal. The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in qualifying with 3 goals. Notably, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both times. While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo. The Swiss ended the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners. Kosovo include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance. They have not yet faced Wales. Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still ended two 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 pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group. Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing. Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player. The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals. Lastly, we have Ireland. After secured just one point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary. Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in dramatic style. Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own. The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.