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

Having ended second in their qualification group following a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on home soil.

They will play against either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many fans were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so they'll be difficult.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a strong qualification campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, Albania have never qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

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

Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his nation's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured just one point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second place in their group in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing three of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.