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The team's attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and potential final rivals.

Having ended second in their qualification group following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against whichever opponent following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many people were asking last night, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that could be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be difficult.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualification campaign, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a point more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed 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 bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.