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The team's sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

Having ended second in their qualifying group thanks to a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever team following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of supporters were wondering last night, 'should we really want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a strong team so it will be tough.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

Wales sit 34th in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

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

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and earned a point additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still ended two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his country's all-time top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured just one point from their opening 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back 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 third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure second spot in their group in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, though 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.