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The team's attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for learning their semi-final and potential final opponents.

After ended second in their qualifying pool following a dominant 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a match against any team after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many people were saying last night, 'should we really want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But personally, that would be amazing.

"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Ireland, naturally, they are a strong team so they'll be difficult.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team had a impressive qualifying campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, though they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with each failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-match campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and earned a points more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.

The 39-year-old was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first three qualifiers, 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 scoring a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his own.

Ireland are without a win in their last four encounters with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.