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The team's sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final challengers.

After finished as runners-up in their qualification group following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

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

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

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"Many people were wondering last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so it will be challenging.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

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The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania had a strong qualifying run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his nation's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

Ireland are winless in their past four encounters with Wales, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.