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Wales' attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and possible final challengers.

After ended as runners-up in their qualifying group thanks to a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of people were saying recently, 'do we really want Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But personally, that could be incredible.

"So it's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so it will be challenging.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Rivals Reviewed

Wales sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a solid qualification campaign, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-game campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a point additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in Group F in thrilling style.

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

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.