🔗 Share this article

Wales' focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they await learning their semifinal and potential final opponents.

After finished second in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a match against whichever team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of supporters were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be tough.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualification campaign, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the knockout stages on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-match campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper 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 not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still finished two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

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

Being his nation's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.

Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.