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

After finished as runners-up in their qualification pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on home soil.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a tie against whichever opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of fans were asking last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that could be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so they'll be challenging.

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

Potential Play-off Semifinal Opponents Reviewed

Wales sit 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a strong qualifying run, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

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

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

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

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

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After secured just one point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, losing three of these, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.