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The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await discovering their semifinal and potential final challengers.

After finished second in their qualifying group thanks to a commanding 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final match on their own turf.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Dragons will relish a match against whichever team following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of people were wondering recently, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. In my view many supporters didn't. But personally, that could be incredible.

"It's one of those, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are decent and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a very good team so they'll be challenging.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody right now and it doesn't matter, and much of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Opponents Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

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

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Albanian squad's prominent names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

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

As Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with each failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-game campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and earned a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but still finished two points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his country's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's key player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure second spot in their group in thrilling fashion.

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

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