🔗 Share this article

The team's sights are squarely on Thursday's World Cup play-off draw as they prepare for learning their semi-final and possible final opponents.

Having finished second in their qualification pool following a dominant 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will play the semifinal match on home soil.

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

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a tie against any opponent following their most recent performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his mindset is 'bring on anyone, we're ready'," Earnshaw said.

"Many supporters were saying last night, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of supporters were hesitant. But personally, that would be fantastic.

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

"But you just feel that we're prepared for anybody at the moment and we're confident, and a lot of that is because of Craig Bellamy."

Possible Playoff Semifinal Rivals Assessed

The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania had a impressive qualifying run, with their only losses suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing a single goal.

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who led their scoring chart in the qualifiers with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have not yet earned a spot for a World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and Euro 2024, failing to advance to the knockout stages on both times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured poor runs, with each not managing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Swiss ended the six-game campaign 3 points ahead of the Kosovans, whose single loss was at the hands of the group winners.

The Kosovan squad feature ex- Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a first international competition appearance.

They have not yet faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and claimed a points additional than the Welsh achieved in their eight games, but nonetheless ended 2 points adrift of Group H winners Austria.

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

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnians in four matches but did have a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they qualified for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

Being his country's historic leading scorer and record appearance player, former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, now at Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman had a crucial role in his side's resurgence while Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his to keep.

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