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The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final rivals.

After ended as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final encounter on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will welcome a match against whichever opponent after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many people were saying recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a capable team so it will be challenging.

"But you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

Wales sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

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

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable names, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to reach the knockout stages on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in qualifying, and claimed a points more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished two points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in Group F in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last four encounters with the Welsh, losing 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.