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Wales' focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final opponents.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on home soil.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will embrace a match against any opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of people were wondering last night, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But for me, that would be incredible.

"So it's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so they'll be tough.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed 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 names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on both times.

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

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a point additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but still finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

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

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, losing three of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.