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Wales' focus are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they await learning their semifinal and potential final rivals.

After ended second in their qualification pool following 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-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a tie against whichever opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of supporters were saying recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But personally, that would be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so they'll be difficult.

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

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualifying campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

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

They have not yet faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but still finished two points adrift 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 qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

After taken 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 the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure second spot in their group in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with Wales, losing 3 of these, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.