🔗 Share this article

Wales' sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final rivals.

After finished second in their qualification pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many fans were asking recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so they'll be challenging.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania had a impressive qualifying run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the knockout stages on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his country's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.