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Wales' attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await learning their semi-final and possible final rivals.

Having finished second in their qualification group thanks to a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on their own turf.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a match against whichever team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of supporters were saying last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be tough.

"However the sense is that we'll take anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Opponents Assessed

Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a solid qualification run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

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

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign three points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his country's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.