🔗 Share this article

The team's focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and possible final rivals.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will welcome a match against whichever opponent after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"Many fans were saying recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think many people didn't. But for me, that could be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so they'll be tough.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semifinal Rivals Assessed

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualifying run, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley'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 topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each times.

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

The Switzerland finished the six-game qualifiers 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of these, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.