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The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

After finished as runners-up in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on their own turf.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many fans were wondering last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be amazing.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so they'll be challenging.

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

Potential Playoff Semi-final Rivals Assessed

Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a impressive qualification run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have never qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

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

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have never played Wales.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points additional than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second place in Group F in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, losing 3 of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.