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The team's attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and possible final challengers.

After ended as runners-up in their qualification pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any team following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

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

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be difficult.

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

Potential Playoff Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a impressive qualifying campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-match campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper 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 played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and claimed a point more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished two points behind of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his nation's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.

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