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The team's sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and potential final challengers.

Having finished second in their qualifying group thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on their own turf.

They will face either Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a match against whichever team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

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

"So it's one of those, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so it will be challenging.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualifying run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with each failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's historic leading scorer 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 top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After secured just one 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 the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure second place in their group in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four meetings with Wales, losing three of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.