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Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final rivals.

Having finished second in their qualifying pool following a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a match against any opponent following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many supporters were asking recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be difficult.

"However you just feel that we'll take anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

Wales sit 34th in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania had a impressive qualifying run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but still finished two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but experienced a unforgettable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

Being his country's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs 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 final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second place in Group F in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with Wales, losing three of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.