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

After finished as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a tie against whichever opponent after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

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

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so they'll be difficult.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualification campaign, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

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

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a point more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but still finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his country's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.