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

After finished as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any team after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many people were asking recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think many supporters didn't. But for me, that could be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, of course, they're a very good team so it will be challenging.

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

Potential Playoff Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

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

Albania had a solid qualification run, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

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

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-game qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a points more than Wales managed in their eight games, but still finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.