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

Having ended second in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of fans were asking recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be challenging.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

Wales sit 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a impressive qualification campaign, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but still ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

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

As his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers 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 back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic style.

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

Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with Wales, losing three of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.