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Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final rivals.

After ended second in their qualification group following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will relish a match against any team following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of people were wondering recently, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so it will be challenging.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualifying campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have never qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-match campaign three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but still ended 2 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 meant the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured just one point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure 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 position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their past four encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.