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

Having ended second in their qualification group following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal match on home soil.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will welcome a tie against any team after their most recent 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.

"A lot of supporters were wondering last night, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think many supporters didn't. But for me, that would be amazing.

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

"But the sense is that we'll take anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semifinal Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a strong qualification run, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-game qualifiers 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his nation's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 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 place in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing three of these, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.