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The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final rivals.

After finished second in their qualifying group thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.

They will play against either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

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

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

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

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so it will be challenging.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team had a solid qualification campaign, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

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

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-game qualifiers 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot 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 won the pool.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his country's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken only a single point from their opening 3 qualifiers, 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 bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.

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