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Wales' sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

After ended second in their qualifying group thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on home soil.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a match against any team after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of supporters were asking last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that would be incredible.

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

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

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The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the world standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania had a strong qualifying campaign, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-game qualifiers 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points additional than Wales managed in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their opening 3 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 scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take second place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.