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The team's attention are squarely on the upcoming World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semifinal and potential final challengers.

Having ended second in their qualification pool thanks to a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest success since 1978 – the side will play the semi-final encounter on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw thinks the Welsh squad will embrace a match against whichever team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mentality is 'give us whoever, we're ready'," Earnshaw commented.

"A lot of people were asking recently, 'do we actually want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. I think many people didn't. But for me, that would be amazing.

"It's that type of situation, yes, we'll take Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are not bad and Republic of Ireland, of course, they're a strong 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."

Possible Playoff Semi-final Rivals Evaluated

Wales are placed 34th in the FIFA standings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side eighty-fourth.

The Albanian national team had a impressive qualification run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of their group winners England, who secured full points without conceding a single goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's recognizable names, though it was former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in qualifying with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, though they participated at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to advance to the last 16 on both occasions.

As Slovenia and Sweden had poor runs, with each not managing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss finished the six-match campaign 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose single loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic top scorer – in a team targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced the Welsh team.

Bosnia lost only one time in qualifying, and earned a points more than the Welsh achieved in their 8 games, but nonetheless finished 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 teams drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the group.

The Welsh have failed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 attempts but experienced a memorable defeat against the Dragons as they earned qualification for the 2016 European Championship under Chris Coleman despite the defeat.

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

The veteran was his squad's leading goalscorer in qualifying with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Republic of Ireland.

After secured just one point from their opening three 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 triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling fashion.

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

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their past four encounters with the Welsh, defeated in three of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's team won a crucial World Cup qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.