Wales face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup qualifying playoff semifinal at the Cardiff City Stadium on Thursday night, as they look to end the month by booking their place at a second consecutive World Cup.
Craig Bellamy's side finished second to Belgium in the qualification group stages, and now will have to win two games to qualify for the World up. Bosnia and Herzegovina, meanwhile, finished second to Austria in their group.
Bosnia and Herzegovina last qualified for a World Cup in Brazil in 2014, when they were eliminated in the group stage, as Argentina and Nigeria qualified out of their group then, which had also involved Iran. Wales, meanwhile, finished bottom of their group in 2022, as they picked up just a solitary point in that World Cup, following up a draw against USA in their opening game, with losses against Iran and England.
For the winner of this tie in Cardiff, a home tie against either Italy or Northern Ireland awaits.
How to watch:
The match will be shown on the BBC Two in the UK, Fox Sports in the U.S., SonyLiv in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Key Details:
Kick-off time: Thursday, March 26 at 7:45 p.m. GMT (2:45 p.m. ET; 1:15 a.m. IST, Friday and 6:45 a.m. AEDT, Friday).
Venue: Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: István Kovác (Romania)
VAR: Denis Higler (The Netherlands)
Team News:
Wales will be without their captain Ben Davies, who sustained an ankle injury earlier this season while playing for his club Tottenham Hotspur. The veteran Aaron Ramsey hasn't been called up for Wales either. They will be highly dependent on Harry Wilson, who has had a sensational season for Fulham in the Premier League, with the likes of Ethan Ampadu, Brennan Johnson and Dan James needing to step up to support Wilson.
There aren't too many concerns with the regulars for Bosnia and Herzegovina, who will once again look to the talismanic Edin Dzeko who, at 40, will be looking for one final dance at this summer's World Cup.
Talking Points
Wales seek history
Never before have Wales qualified for successive World Cup tournaments. In fact, they've only qualified two times at all, once in 1958 and then in 2022. It would be a huge achievement for this young group of Welsh players to qualify for this World Cup, particularly with it being the first cycle they've played in a long time without the inspirational Gareth Bale, while other regulars like Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen have also moved away from the national team set-up.
Wales have played some good football in patches under coach Craig Bellamy, and the qualification campaign was largely positive. They lost twice to Belgium, but the away loss came after they had come back to level things at 3-3 after being 3-0 down. They also lost 4-2 at home to the Belgians, but they won five other games, and their only little blemish came in the form of a 1-1 away draw against North Macedonia, which was a decent result considering how the group ended.
However, all that good work in qualifying will be rendered academic if they cannot cross the finish line in the two games that they have got left.
Harry Wilson is key for Wales
Just as he's been for Fulham throughout this Premier League season, Harry Wilson will be the man his teams turns to over the next week in Cardiff. Wilson has scored ten times and assisted a further six in the Premier League for Fulham this season, and has been in excellent form for most of the campaign.
He's coming into this international break reasonably high on confidence as well, with two goals and two assists in his last four appearances for Fulham. He had gone three Premier League games without a direct goal contribution before that, so his return to form in front of goal is a welcome boost for Bellamy.
Wilson will have the likes of Brennan Johnson, David Brooks and Dan James around him, as Wales plot a route past Bosnia and Herzegovina, but there are no illusions surrounding who the main man will be.
How will Wales deal with Dzeko?
It's the question every opponent has asked before a match against Bosnia and Herzegovina for more than a decade now. Dzeko's 40 now, and is enjoying life in the German second division, at Schalke. In fact, he had only moved there from Fiorentina in January, so that he gets more game time and rhythm to be fit and firing for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the next week.
Bellamy had even warned his team last week that Dzeko remains a big danger to their World Cup dream.
"He's still playing at a good level and he's definitely a dangerous player," Bellamy said.
"The idea for us would be to keep them away from our box because that's when he comes into his own.
"The more time he's outside the box the benefit it would be for us," the Wales boss added.
With 72 goals in 146 international caps for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dzeko clearly is the one that Wales will need to stop, and the likes of Joe Rodon will have their work cut in trying to do so.
Wales need to use home advantage
In the group stage, Wales lost to Belgium at home, but won their remaining three games -- against North Macedonia, Liechtenstein and Kazakhstan -- at home.
They've generally done well at home in recent times against sides not considered in the European elite, but have had the odd blip at home. Last year, they lost a friendly at home to Canada in September, although that happened at Swansea and not in Cardiff. In 2023, they also lost a EURO 2024 qualification game against Armenia at home.
It's those kinds of results that Wales will have to avoid, if they are to make this a successful qualification campaign.
What do the numbers say?
Wales have never beaten Bosnia and Herzegovina before, losing two and drawing two of the previous four games between these two sides.
Wales have won five of their last ten matches, drawing one and losing four of the other five.
Bosnia and Herzegovina have won only three away games in the last six years. Those wins came against Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein and Malta.
Bosnia and Herzegovina have won six of their last ten matches, losing two and drawing two of the other four.
