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Wales' attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final rivals.

Having finished second in their qualification pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a match against whichever opponent after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many supporters were wondering last night, 'do we really want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be tough.

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

Potential Playoff Semifinal Opponents Assessed

Wales are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualifying campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.

The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken just one 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 netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second place in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in three of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.