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

After ended second in their qualification pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will welcome a tie against whichever opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many fans were saying recently, 'do we really want Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think many supporters didn't. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be tough.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualification campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the last 16 on both occasions.

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

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

The Kosovan squad feature ex- 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 the qualifiers, and claimed a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

Being his country's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last four encounters with Wales, defeated in three of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.