🔗 Share this article Wales Ready to Take on Anybody in World Cup Play-off Draw Wales have won 8 of their recent 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy Wales' sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final challengers. After finished as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal match on home soil. They will play against either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March. Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will relish a match against any team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium. "I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said. "A lot of supporters were wondering last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But for me, that could be amazing. "So it's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so they'll be difficult. "However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy." Potential Play-off Semifinal Opponents Assessed Wales sit 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th. Albania had a solid qualification run, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal. Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with three goals. Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to reach the last 16 on both times. While Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with each failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo. The Swiss ended the six-game campaign three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners. Kosovo include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a first major tournament appearance. They have never played Wales. Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria. They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool. Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing. Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player. The veteran was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals. And finally, we have Republic of Ireland. Having secured just one point from their opening three matches, Heimir HallgrÃmsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary. Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in thrilling style. Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep. Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.