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

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will welcome a match against any opponent following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many supporters were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think many people didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be difficult.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualifying run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent players, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in qualifying with three goals.

Notably, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose one defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points additional than Wales achieved in their eight games, but still finished two points behind of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, ex- 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.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take runner-up place in Group F in dramatic fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.