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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 opponents.

Having ended second in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will relish a tie against whichever opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"Many people were wondering last night, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of people were hesitant. But for me, that could be amazing.

"It's one of those, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a strong team so they'll be challenging.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Playoff Semi-final Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualification campaign, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed full points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's recognizable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with both not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

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

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his country's historic top goalscorer and most-capped player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's key player.

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

And finally, we have Ireland.

After taken just one point from their first 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's revival while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his own.

Ireland are without a win in their last four meetings with Wales, losing 3 of these, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.