The Welsh team Ready to Face Anybody in FIFA World Cup Play-off Draw
The team has won eight of their last sixteen matches with coach Craig Bellamy
Wales' sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semifinal and potential final challengers.
Having ended as runners-up in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia â their largest success since 1978 â Wales will host the semi-final match on their own turf.
They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against whichever team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.
"A lot of supporters were asking recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that would be amazing.
"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so it will be tough.
"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
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The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.
The Albanian national team had a solid qualification campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.
The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.
It is worth noting, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.
While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland ended the six-game qualifiers 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.
The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi â his country's all-time top scorer â in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.
They have not yet faced Wales.
Bosnia were defeated only one time in qualifying, and earned a point more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.
They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.
The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.
As his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.
The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
After taken just one point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir HallgrĂmsson's side surged into the play-offs 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 hat-trick â with the final goal coming in the 96th minute â as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in dramatic fashion.
Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.
Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with Wales, defeated in three of those, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.
