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The team's attention are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for learning their semi-final and possible final challengers.

After ended as runners-up in their qualifying pool following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will relish a tie against any opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of supporters were saying recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that would be amazing.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a strong team so they'll be tough.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a impressive qualifying campaign, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio'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 qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

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

Wales have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but experienced a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

Being his nation's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

After secured just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, 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 the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to take second place in their group in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his own.

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