🔗 Share this article

Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for learning their semifinal and potential final challengers.

Having finished second in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will relish a tie against whichever team after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of fans were saying recently, 'do we really want Ireland because of that local feel?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that would be amazing.

"So it's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so it will be challenging.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

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

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a points more than Wales achieved in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in four matches but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his own.

Ireland are winless in their past four meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.