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

Having ended second in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a match against whichever opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many people were wondering recently, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that would be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be difficult.

"However you just feel that we'll take anyone right now and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their only defeats 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 Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with both not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and earned a points additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two 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 stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in Group F in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's resurgence while Brentford keeper 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 those, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.