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

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 play the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against any team after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many fans were wondering recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view many people didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be tough.

"However the sense is that we'll take anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on each times.

As Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-game campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than Wales achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in four matches but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

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

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

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