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The team's attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.

After finished as runners-up in their qualification pool following a commanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – Wales will play the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Republic of Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will relish a match against any team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"Many fans were asking last night, 'should we really want Ireland because of that derby feel?'. In my view many supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so they'll be tough.

"However you just feel 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 Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a impressive qualification campaign, with their only losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on each times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor campaigns, with both failing to win a qualification match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose single defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet played Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have failed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his nation's all-time top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken just one point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs 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 hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second spot in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the starting jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with the Welsh, defeated in three of these, though 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.