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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 possible final rivals.

After finished second in their qualification group thanks to a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever opponent after their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of fans were saying recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. I think many people didn't. But for me, that could be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so they'll be difficult.

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

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

Albania had a strong qualifying run, with their sole losses coming 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 Albanian squad's recognizable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had difficult campaigns, with each not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-match campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

Being his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The 39-year-old was his team's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure second place in their group in thrilling fashion.

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

Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.