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The team's sights are firmly on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await discovering their semifinal and possible final challengers.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualifying group following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest win since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a match against any team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'bring on whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"Many supporters were asking last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that derby feel?'. I think many supporters didn't. But for me, that would be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, indeed, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they are a capable team so it will be challenging.

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and it doesn't matter, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team enjoyed a strong qualifying campaign, with their sole losses suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed full points without allowing a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and the Serie A side's Elseid Hysaj are among the Albanian squad's more notable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with three goals.

Notably, Albania have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, not managing to reach the knockout stages on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had difficult runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Switzerland ended the six-game campaign 3 points clear of Kosovo, whose one defeat was at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo feature former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a team aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have never played the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost just once in qualifying, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but still ended two points behind of their group winners Austria.

They were 13 minutes away from clinching a place at the World Cup, but Michael Gregoritsch's equaliser for the Austrians meant the pair drew in the final game of qualifying and Ralf Rangnick's team won the group.

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

Being his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, ex- Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is undoubtedly Bosnia-Herzegovina's star player.

The veteran was his team's leading goalscorer in qualifying with five goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

Having secured only a single point from their first 3 matches, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the play-offs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a hat-trick – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to take second place in their group in dramatic style.

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

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past 4 encounters with Wales, losing 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.