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The team's attention are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they prepare for learning their semifinal and potential final challengers.

Having finished as runners-up in their qualifying group thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will welcome a tie against any team following their most recent result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many people were asking last night, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. I think many supporters didn't. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we're ready for the Kosovans or the Bosnians and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so it will be difficult.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anyone right now and we're confident, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Potential Play-off Semi-final Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the world standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia 75th and Kosovo eighty-fourth.

Albania enjoyed a strong qualifying campaign, with their only defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign three points clear of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a points more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

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

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having taken only a single point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side surged into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in Group F in thrilling style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

Ireland are without a win in their past four encounters with Wales, defeated in three of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.