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Wales' sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will welcome a tie against any team after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"Many supporters were wondering recently, 'should we really want Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so it will be difficult.

"But the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

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

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed 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 triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.

Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.