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

After finished as runners-up in their qualification pool following a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of fans were wondering recently, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that local feel?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But personally, that could be amazing.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be difficult.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

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

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-match campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose one defeat was 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 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 point additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but still finished two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their first three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure second place 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 made the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past four meetings with Wales, losing three 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.