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

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification pool following a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever opponent after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"Many people were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But personally, that could be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be difficult.

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

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualification run, with their sole losses coming at the hands of Group K 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 Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-game qualifiers 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

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

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

Being his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

Ireland are without a win in their last four encounters with Wales, losing three of those, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.