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Wales' focus are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final rivals.

After ended second in their qualification group following a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many fans were saying last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be amazing.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so they'll be difficult.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with both not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, 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.