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The team's sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semi-final and possible final opponents.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will relish a tie against whichever opponent after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"Many fans were wondering last night, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that could be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a capable team so they'll be difficult.

"But the sense is that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

Albania had a solid qualification run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of Group K 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 more notable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

As his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken just one point from their opening three matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second place in Group F in thrilling fashion.

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

Ireland are without a win in their last four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.