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Wales' sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.

Having ended second in their qualification group thanks to a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal encounter on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a tie against any team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many supporters were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But for me, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so it will be difficult.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualifying run, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

Notably, Albania have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-game campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.

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

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point additional than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless 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 equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

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

Being his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.