🔗 Share this article

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

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying pool following a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against whichever opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many supporters were asking last night, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a very good team so they'll be difficult.

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

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania had a impressive qualification run, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side'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 topped their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Notably, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign three points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and claimed a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, losing 3 of these, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.