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The team's focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final challengers.

After ended second in their qualifying pool following a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a tie against whichever team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of people were saying recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a very good team so it will be difficult.

"But you just feel that we'll take anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semifinal Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad are placed 34th in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualifying run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with each failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-match campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh managed in their 8 games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

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

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a unforgettable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his nation's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second spot in their group in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his to keep.

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