🔗 Share this article

Wales' sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final challengers.

Having ended second in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a tie against whichever opponent after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of people were asking last night, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view many people didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so they'll be challenging.

"But you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a strong qualifying campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

Being his country's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in Group F in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.