Wales target clean sheet in Albania World Cup play-off first leg
Rhian Wilkinson wants Wales to keep Albania out in Friday’s first leg in Shkodër, with an injury-hit squad facing a return match in Llanelli four days later.
Wales coach Rhian Wilkinson has set a clean sheet and a strong performance as her team's targets for Friday's Women's World Cup play-off first leg against Albania in Shkodër. Wales face a return match in Llanelli on Tuesday, so the result at Loro Borici Stadium will shape, rather than settle, their attempt to advance toward the 2027 finals in Brazil.
Asked what would count as a positive first leg, Wilkinson told BBC Sport Wales: ‘I'll stick with a clean sheet and a strong performance.’ She said Wales had experience of home-and-away play-offs and needed to deliver away before doing so again at home a few days later. The first leg is scheduled for 17:00 BST on 9 October; the return at Parc y Scarlets is scheduled for 13 October.
How injuries affect the Wales squad against Albania
The BBC reported on Thursday that nine Wales regulars were unavailable through injury: Olivia Clark, Poppy Soper, Rhiannon Roberts, Hayley Ladd, Ella Powell, Laura Hughes, Mia Ross, Ffion Morgan and Ceri Holland. The Football Association of Wales had named seven injury absentees in its earlier squad announcement: Ross, Ladd, Hughes, Clark, Holland, Morgan and Powell. That announcement included Roberts in the published squad. The two accounts were issued at different times, and neither source explains the difference.
Wilkinson told the BBC that nine injuries were beyond what she would have predicted. She said Wales had to adapt as a small country, while expressing confidence in the strength and experience of the 23-player group available to her. The absences could bring less experienced players into decisions over the two matches, although Wilkinson has not said which of them will play.
Six players with Wales in Albania have yet to win a senior cap, according to the BBC: goalkeepers Soffia Kelly and Lucy Farrell-Shrouder, defender Cadi Rodgers, wide player Heidi Hills and forwards Casi Gregson and Olivia Francis. The FAW's squad announcement also said it included six uncapped players and identified Gregson and Hills as first-time call-ups. Wilkinson told the BBC the younger players had trained intensely, worked off the pitch and involved themselves in team meetings. She said they had put themselves in the best position to earn playing time.
What Wales can take from their earlier Albania matches
Wales won both qualifying meetings with Albania in April, beating them 4-0 at home and 1-0 away, the BBC reported. Those scores offer a useful reference for this tie, but the narrower away victory also informs Wilkinson's expectations. She told the BBC Albania could have scored once or twice in that second meeting and anticipated a resilient opponent in the play-off. The teams now have two more matches to decide which reaches the next round.
The FAW said Wales entered the play-offs unbeaten in 2026, with four wins and two draws in qualifying and 17 goals scored. The BBC reported that Wales topped their group after a home win over the Czech Republic in June. It also noted away draws against the Czech Republic and Montenegro alongside the win in Albania. Wilkinson's emphasis on the first-leg performance therefore comes against a qualifying record in which Wales' results away from home were tighter than their emphatic home win over Albania.
Albania were ranked 68th in the world, 37 places below Wales, according to the BBC. Wilkinson nevertheless described them as a team that knows its strengths. She said she expected both sides to be resilient and to give everything in a difficult match. Her clean-sheet target concerns only the opening leg; Wales would still need a result across both games to move on.
The remaining route to the 2027 World Cup
If Wales beat Albania over the two legs, they will face Norway or Romania in another home-and-away play-off, with matches scheduled for 1 and 5 December, according to the FAW. Reaching that round would still leave the World Cup place unresolved. The BBC reported that seven of eight European play-off winners will qualify directly for the finals in Brazil, while the lowest-ranked winner from the qualifying group stage will enter an inter-confederation play-off in February.
Wales do not yet know whether winning both European play-off ties would take them directly to Brazil or leave them with that additional step, the BBC reported. For now, the immediate questions are whether Wilkinson's depleted squad can keep Albania out in Shkodër and what position Wales will be in when the teams meet again in Llanelli. No result from the first leg is yet available.
Sources and context
- Albania v Wales: Rhian Wilkinson wants clean sheet in Women's World Cup play-off semi-final first legBBC Sport Wales
- Cymru squad announced for Albania World Cup Play-offFootball Association of Wales
- Albania | Matches | Women's European QualifiersUEFA
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