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Wales' focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for learning their semi-final and possible final opponents.

After ended second in their qualifying group thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will relish a tie against any team after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of fans were asking last night, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so they'll be challenging.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Assessed

Wales sit 34th in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in three 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.