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Wales' sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final rivals.

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

They will play against either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a tie against whichever team after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of fans were saying last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so it will be difficult.

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

Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

Wales sit 34th in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualifying run, with their only losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.

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

Importantly, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on each times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and earned a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his country's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.