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Wales' focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and potential final rivals.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualifying pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will embrace a match against any opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of fans were saying recently, 'do we really want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that would be incredible.

"It's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so it will be tough.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

Wales sit 34th in the world standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a solid qualifying campaign, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the last 16 on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After secured only a single 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 hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his own.

Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing three of these, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.