🔗 Share this article The Welsh team Set to Face Whichever Opponent in World Cup Play-off Draw Wales have secured eight of their recent sixteen matches with manager Craig Bellamy The team's focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final rivals. Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on their own turf. They will play against either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March. Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever opponent after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium. "I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said. "Many people were saying last night, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But for me, that could be incredible. "It's one of those, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so they'll be difficult. "However the sense is that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy." Possible Play-off Semi-final Rivals Assessed Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth. The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualification run, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a solitary goal. The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with three goals. It is worth noting, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both times. As Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team. The Swiss ended the six-game campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners. The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance. They have never faced Wales. Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a points more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but still ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria. They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool. The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat. Being his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player. The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals. And finally, we have Republic of Ireland. After taken only a single point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson'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 final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second spot in their group in dramatic style. Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep. The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.