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Wales' focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for learning their semifinal and potential final opponents.

After ended second in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.

They will play against either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a match against whichever opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of people were asking last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But for me, that would be incredible.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be tough.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a strong qualification campaign, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with each failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-game campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points adrift 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 meant the pair tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second spot in their group in thrilling fashion.

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

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.