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The team's attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup play-off fixture as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and potential final rivals.

After finished as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many supporters were saying recently, 'do we actually want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters didn't. But for me, that would be incredible.

"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be tough.

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

Potential Play-off Semifinal Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a impressive qualification campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's prominent names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in qualifying with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.

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

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

Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot 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 pool.

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 matches but experienced a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his country's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken just one point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four meetings with Wales, losing 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.