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Wales' focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semifinal and possible final challengers.

Having ended second in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a match against any team after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many supporters were asking last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that would be amazing.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so they'll be challenging.

"But you just feel that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a strong qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the last 16 on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant 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 matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

Being his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure 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 starting jersey his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.