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Wales' focus are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and possible final challengers.

After ended second in their qualification group thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.

They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a match 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 whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many supporters were wondering recently, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that would be incredible.

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

"But the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Rivals Evaluated

Wales are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in qualifying, and earned a points additional than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but still ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified 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 forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's key player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second spot in Group F in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past four meetings with the Welsh, losing three of those, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.