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Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final opponents.

Having finished second in their qualifying group following a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a match against whichever opponent following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many supporters were asking recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think many supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so it will be difficult.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anybody right now and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualification campaign, with their only losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

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

The Switzerland ended the six-game qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a points additional than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 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 ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his country's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his own.

Ireland are without a win in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.