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Wales' focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await learning their semifinal and potential final rivals.

After ended second in their qualifying pool following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will embrace a match against whichever team after 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 commented.

"A lot of supporters were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be tough.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Rivals Reviewed

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

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

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still ended 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second spot in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.

Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with Wales, defeated in three of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.