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

After finished second in their qualification group following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a match against any team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of fans were asking last night, 'should we really want Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think many people didn't. But personally, that would be incredible.

"It's one of those, indeed, 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.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

Wales sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

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

As his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken just one point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing three of those, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.