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The team's attention are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

Having finished second in their qualifying pool thanks to a commanding 7-1 win 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, Kosovo or Republic of Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will relish a tie against whichever team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of fans were wondering recently, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that local feel?'. I think many people were hesitant. But for me, that would be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take the Kosovans or the Bosnians and the Albanians are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so it will be challenging.

"However you just feel that we'll take anyone right now and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Opponents Reviewed

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a strong qualification run, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who secured maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

The Premier League'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 scoring tally in qualifying with three goals.

It is worth noting, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor 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 qualifiers three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a first major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but nonetheless ended two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from securing a spot at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the pair drew in the last game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in four attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

As his nation's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take runner-up place in Group F in thrilling style.

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

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their last 4 meetings with Wales, losing 3 of those, though James McClean shattered the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.