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

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying group following a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on their own turf.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a tie against any opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many fans were wondering last night, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that local feel?'. In my view many people didn't. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a very good team so they'll be tough.

"But you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualification campaign, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of their group 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 Red and Blacks's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in qualifying with three goals.

Notably, Albania have never qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with both not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland finished the six-game qualifiers 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the pool 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 squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still finished two points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their past four encounters with Wales, losing 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.