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

Having finished second in their qualification pool following a commanding 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a tie against whichever team after their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of fans were saying recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that derby feel?'. In my view many people were hesitant. But personally, that would be incredible.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, of course, they're a strong team so they'll be challenging.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anyone at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

Wales are placed 34th in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

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

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each times.

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

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a points additional than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

Wales have failed to beat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.

The veteran was his team's top scorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in their group in dramatic fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his side's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with Wales, losing three of these, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.