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Wales' attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semifinal and possible final rivals.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualification pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal match on their own turf.

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

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

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many fans were asking last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be difficult.

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

Possible Play-off Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a solid qualifying run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a point more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.