🔗 Share this article The Welsh team Prepared to Take on Anyone in World Cup Playoff Fixture The team has won 8 of their previous 16 matches with manager Craig Bellamy The team's attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final challengers. Having ended second in their qualifying group thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on home soil. They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March. Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will relish a tie against whichever team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium. "I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said. "Many fans were asking last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think a number of supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be amazing. "It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be tough. "But you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy." Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th. Albania had a solid qualification campaign, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without conceding a solitary goal. The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals. Importantly, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions. As Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo. The Swiss ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners. Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance. They have not yet faced Wales. Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria. They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool. Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat. Being his nation's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player. The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals. And finally, we have Republic of Ireland. Having secured just one point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary. Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second place in their group in dramatic style. Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own. The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.