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The team's sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final opponents.

After ended second in their qualifying pool following a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – Wales will host the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Welsh squad will relish a match against whichever team following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many fans were wondering last night, 'should we actually want Ireland because of that derby atmosphere?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are competitive and Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be difficult.

"However you just feel that we're prepared for anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

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Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a solid qualification campaign, with their only defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's prominent names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

Importantly, the Albanians have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid campaigns, with each failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one defeat was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's all-time top scorer – in a team aiming for a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a point more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after losing.

Being his nation's all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia-Herzegovina's standout player.

The veteran was his squad's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

Lastly, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up spot in Group F in dramatic style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the starting jersey his own.

Ireland are without a win in their last 4 encounters with the Welsh, losing three of those, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.