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

Having ended second in their qualification group thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will relish a tie against whichever opponent after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many people were wondering recently, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that local feel?'. I think many supporters were hesitant. But for me, that could be incredible.

"It's one of those, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a strong team so it will be tough.

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

Possible Playoff Semifinal Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualification campaign, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a point more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended two points adrift of their group 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 teams drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.

The 39-year-old was his team's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

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

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.