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

After finished as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on their own turf.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of people were wondering recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that would be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so it will be difficult.

"But the sense is that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania had a impressive qualification run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, Albania have never earned a spot for a World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the last 16 on both times.

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

The Swiss ended the six-match qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

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

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

Being his nation's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second place in their group in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 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 decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.