🔗 Share this article The Welsh team Set to Challenge Anybody in World Cup Play-off Draw The team has won 8 of their previous 16 matches with coach Craig Bellamy The team's attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semi-final and possible final challengers. After ended as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on home soil. They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March. Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will relish a match against whichever opponent 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, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated. "A lot of people were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that would be incredible. "So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so they'll be difficult. "But the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy." Potential Playoff Semifinal Opponents Assessed The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth. The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualification campaign, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal. Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals. Importantly, Albania have never qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on each times. As Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo. The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners. The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance. They have not yet faced the Welsh team. Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 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 leveler for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group. Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat. Being his nation's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player. The veteran was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals. Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland. Having taken only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary. Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic style. Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own. Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.