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The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final rivals.

After finished as runners-up in their qualifying pool following a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter 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 believes the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any opponent after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many supporters were wondering recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But for me, that could be amazing.

"It's one of those, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be challenging.

"But the sense is that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

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

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Notably, Albania have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift 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 meant the pair drew in the last game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

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

The 39-year-old was his squad's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having taken just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.

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