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Wales' sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for learning their semifinal and potential final rivals.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will embrace a match against any opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of people were asking last night, 'do we really want Ireland because of that derby feel?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that would be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so they'll be difficult.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualifying run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-match campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss came 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 first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a points more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his nation's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his own.

Ireland are without a win in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.