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

Having ended as runners-up in their qualifying group thanks to a decisive 7-1 triumph over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – Wales will host the semifinal encounter on home soil.

They will meet either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that fixture on 26 March.

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

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"Many people were asking recently, 'should we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think many people didn't. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"It's one of those, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or the Bosnians and the Albanians are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a strong team so it will be challenging.

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

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The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world standings, with Albania sixty-first, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina seventy-fifth and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualifying campaign, with their sole defeats coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's prominent players, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Importantly, Albania have not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both times.

As Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult runs, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one loss was at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's all-time top scorer – in a squad targeting a maiden international competition appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in qualifying, and earned a point more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still finished two points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from securing a spot at the finals, but Michael Gregoritsch's leveler for the Austrians ensured the teams tied in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnians in 4 matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his nation's historic top goalscorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia's star player.

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

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their opening three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish surprised Hungary to take second place in Group F in dramatic style.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a crucial role in his team's resurgence while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their last four meetings with Wales, losing three of those, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.