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The team's focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semifinal and possible final challengers.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will embrace a match against whichever team after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many supporters were saying last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. I think many people were hesitant. But for me, that would be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so it will be difficult.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semifinal Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a strong qualification campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in qualifying, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four encounters with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, although James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.