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

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

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of supporters were asking recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters were hesitant. But for me, that could be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be difficult.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a solid qualifying campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.

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

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a point additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but still ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing 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 pool.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second spot in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, 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 qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.