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

After ended second in their qualification group thanks to a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on their own turf.

They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of supporters were saying recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be amazing.

"So it's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be tough.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

Wales are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a points additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

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

The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

Ireland are without a win in their past 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in three of those, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.