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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.

Having ended second in their qualification group following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a match against whichever opponent following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of supporters were saying last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so they'll be challenging.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania had a impressive qualification run, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's more notable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than Wales 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 spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

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

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in Group F in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.