🔗 Share this article

Wales' attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a match against whichever opponent after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"Many supporters were wondering last night, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that would be amazing.

"So it's one of those, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so they'll be difficult.

"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 Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania had a strong qualifying campaign, with their sole losses coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-game qualifiers 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured just one point from their first 3 qualifiers, 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 scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in Group F in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in three of these, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.