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

Having ended second in their qualifying pool following a dominant 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final encounter on home soil.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will relish a match 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 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many fans were saying recently, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of supporters didn't. But personally, that could be fantastic.

"So it's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so it will be challenging.

"However the sense is that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

Wales sit 34th in the world rankings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualifying campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's recognizable players, though it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their goal tally in qualifying with 3 goals.

Importantly, Albania have never earned a spot for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the knockout stages on both occasions.

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

The Swiss finished the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single defeat came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than Wales managed in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points adrift of their group 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 teams tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The 39-year-old was his team's top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

Lastly, we have Republic of 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 scoring a triple – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second spot in Group F in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his team's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with the Welsh, losing 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.