The Welsh team Ready to Challenge Anybody in World Cup Playoff Draw
The team has secured 8 of their previous 16 matches under coach Craig Bellamy
The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await learning their semifinal and potential final opponents.
After finished as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.
They will play against either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.
Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will welcome a match against any team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.
"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.
"A lot of people were asking recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view a number of supporters were hesitant. But for me, that could be incredible.
"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so it will be tough.
"However the sense is that we're prepared for anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."
Possible Play-off Semifinal Rivals Assessed
The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.
Albania enjoyed a impressive qualifying run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a solitary goal.
Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.
Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.
While Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.
The Switzerland ended the six-game qualifiers 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.
The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.
They have never faced Wales.
Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a point additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.
They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.
The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.
Being his nation's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.
The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.
And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.
Having taken just one point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.
Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic fashion.
Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his to keep.
The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.