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

Having ended second in their qualifying pool following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will relish a match against whichever team following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of fans were saying last night, 'should we really want Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view many people didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so they'll be tough.

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

Potential Playoff Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

Wales sit 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

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

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

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

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

The Switzerland finished the six-game qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished two points behind of their group winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, 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.