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Wales' sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for learning their semi-final and possible final opponents.

Having finished second in their qualification pool following a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will embrace a match against whichever opponent after their most recent 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 said.

"Many fans were saying recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that could be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be difficult.

"But you just feel that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

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

Albania had a solid qualification campaign, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

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

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

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

Being his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second place in their group in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last four encounters with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.