🔗 Share this article

The team's attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and possible final opponents.

Having finished second in their qualification group thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against whichever opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of people were saying last night, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that local feel?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But for me, that could be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so they'll be difficult.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a solid qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on each times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-match campaign three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still ended two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

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

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

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

After taken just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged 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 hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up 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 number one jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last four encounters with the Welsh, losing three of those, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.