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Wales' attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final challengers.

Having finished second in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a tie against whichever team after their latest result 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.

"A lot of supporters were asking last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be tough.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Rivals Assessed

Wales sit 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a impressive qualifying campaign, with their only losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum 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 more notable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have never earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each occasions.

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

The Switzerland finished the six-match campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and earned a point more than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair 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 4 attempts but experienced a unforgettable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his nation's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his own.

Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, although 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.