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Wales' sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final challengers.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying group following a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a match against any opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many supporters were asking last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But personally, that would be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so they'll be difficult.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania had a solid qualifying run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a point more than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

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

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving 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 had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.