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The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semifinal and possible final rivals.

After ended second in their qualifying pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

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

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many fans were asking recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think many supporters didn't. But personally, that could be amazing.

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

"But the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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Wales sit 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a solid qualification run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each failing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia lost only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still finished 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their first 3 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 stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with the Welsh, losing three of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.