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The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they prepare for discovering their semifinal and possible final opponents.

After ended second in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

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

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

"Many supporters were wondering recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that would be incredible.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be challenging.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Rivals Evaluated

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

Albania enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

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

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still finished two points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

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

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having secured just one point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive 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 spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.