Craig Bellamy's squad Ready to Face Whichever Opponent in FIFA World Cup Playoff Draw

Wales' attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a tie against any opponent following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of supporters were saying last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be amazing.

"So it's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a very good team so they'll be difficult.

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

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a impressive qualifying run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio'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 goal chart in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland finished the six-game qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his country's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After 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 Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second place in their group in dramatic fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.