🔗 Share this article

The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final rivals.

Having finished 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 encounter on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will relish a tie against any opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of people were asking last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think many people were hesitant. But for me, that could be amazing.

"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be challenging.

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

Possible Play-off Semifinal Rivals Evaluated

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualifying campaign, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-match qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 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 group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in three of these, though 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.