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

After ended second in their qualifying group thanks to a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on their own turf.

They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a match against any opponent after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of supporters were wondering recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think a number of people didn't. But for me, that would be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be challenging.

"However the sense is that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Assessed

Wales sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without allowing a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the knockout stages on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure second spot in their group in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.