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

After finished second in their qualifying pool following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal 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 forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any team following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many fans were saying last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so they'll be tough.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

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The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team had a solid qualification campaign, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose single loss came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point additional than Wales achieved 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 spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in three of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.