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Wales' focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and possible final rivals.

After ended as runners-up in their qualifying group thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on home soil.

They will play against either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a match against any opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of fans were saying recently, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be difficult.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

Wales are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their only losses suffered 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, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

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

The Swiss ended the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnians in four matches but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.

The 39-year-old was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

After 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 netted 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.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with Wales, losing three of those, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.