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Wales' focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and potential final opponents.

After ended as runners-up in their qualification pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will play against either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against whichever team following their most recent 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 commented.

"A lot of people were asking recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many people didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be challenging.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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Wales sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualification campaign, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to reach the last 16 on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers 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 all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in qualifying, and earned a point additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

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

The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their opening 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive 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 secure second place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with the Welsh, losing three of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.