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

After ended as runners-up in their qualifying pool thanks to a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on home soil.

They will meet either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a match against any opponent after their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

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

"A lot of people were wondering last night, 'do we really want Ireland as it's that local atmosphere?'. In my view many people didn't. But personally, that would be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so it will be tough.

"However the sense is that we'll take anyone at the moment and it doesn't matter, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

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Wales are placed thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

Albania had a strong qualifying run, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without allowing a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's recognizable players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in qualifying with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on each occasions.

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

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign three points clear of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were a quarter of an hour away from clinching a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the pool.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in four attempts but did have a unforgettable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

As his country's all-time leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's key player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After taken just one point from their opening 3 qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to secure second spot in their group in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting position his own.

Ireland are without a win in their past four meetings with the Welsh, defeated in 3 of these, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.