🔗 Share this article

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

Having ended as runners-up in their qualifying group thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against any opponent after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"Many fans were saying last night, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"It's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be tough.

"But you just feel that we'll take anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Reviewed

Wales sit 34th in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania had a strong qualification run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes 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 qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's star player.

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second spot in their group in dramatic style.

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

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with Wales, losing three of those, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.