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The team's sights are squarely on the upcoming World Cup play-off draw as they await discovering their semi-final and potential final challengers.

After ended as runners-up in their qualification group following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final match on their own turf.

They will play against either Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Former Wales forward Rob Earnshaw believes the Welsh squad will embrace a match against any team after their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"A lot of fans were asking last night, 'should we actually want Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters were hesitant. But for me, that would be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, indeed, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and Albania are competitive and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a strong team so they'll be tough.

"However the sense is that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Opponents Assessed

The Welsh squad are placed thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team sixty-first, Republic of Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia seventy-fifth and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a strong qualifying run, with their sole losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal tally in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

It is worth noting, Albania have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they featured at the 2016 European Championship and the 2024 Euros, failing to advance to the last 16 on each occasions.

While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with both not managing to win a qualifying match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland ended the six-match qualifiers three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad include former Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia were defeated only one time in the qualifiers, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnians in 4 attempts but did have a memorable defeat against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after losing.

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

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After taken just one point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with back-to-back wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott netted the two goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland stunned Hungary to secure second place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one jersey his to keep.

The Republic of Ireland are winless in their past four meetings with Wales, defeated in three of those, though James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.