🔗 Share this article

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

Having finished second in their qualification group following a decisive 7-1 win over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semi-final encounter on home soil.

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

Former Wales striker Rob Earnshaw believes the Dragons will embrace a tie against whichever opponent following their latest result at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I know Craig Bellamy, I played with him and his approach is 'bring on whoever, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw said.

"Many people were saying recently, 'should we really want Republic of Ireland as it's that derby atmosphere?'. I think a number of people didn't. But personally, that would be fantastic.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or the Bosnians and Albania are not bad and Ireland, naturally, they're a capable team so it will be difficult.

"But you just feel that we'll take anyone at the moment and we're confident, and much of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Rivals Assessed

Wales sit 34th in the world rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

The Albanian national team had a impressive qualifying run, with their sole defeats suffered at the hands of Group K winners England, who claimed maximum points without conceding a solitary goal.

Burnley's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are part of the Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford forward Rey Manaj who topped their scoring tally in the qualifiers with three goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a FIFA World Cup, although they featured at Euro 2016 and the 2024 Euros, not managing to reach the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden had torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualification match, Group B was a direct battle between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-game qualifiers 3 points clear of the Kosovans, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

Kosovo include former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic top scorer – in a squad targeting a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in qualifying, and earned a point more than the Welsh managed in their eight games, but still ended 2 points behind of Group H winners Austria.

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

Wales have not managed to beat the Bosnian side in four attempts but did have a unforgettable loss against the Dragons as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

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

The 39-year-old was his team's leading goalscorer in the qualifiers with 5 goals.

And finally, we have Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott scored the two goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before scoring a triple – with the final goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up spot in their group in thrilling style.

Key player Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his team's revival while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

The Republic of Ireland are without a win in their last 4 meetings with Wales, defeated in 3 of those, although James McClean broke the hearts of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.