🔗 Share this article

The team's focus are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff fixture as they await learning their semifinal and possible final opponents.

After finished second in their qualifying pool following a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their largest success since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal match on their own turf.

They will play against either the Albanian side, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales striker Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will embrace a tie against any team following their most recent result 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.

"A lot of supporters were asking recently, 'do we actually want Ireland because of that local atmosphere?'. I think many people didn't. But for me, that could be incredible.

"So it's that type of situation, yes, we'll take the Kosovans or Bosnia and Albania are decent and Ireland, of course, they are a very good team so it will be tough.

"However you just feel that we'll take anybody right now and we're confident, and a lot of that is down to Craig Bellamy."

Possible Play-off Semi-final Rivals Reviewed

The Welsh squad sit 34th in the FIFA rankings, with Albania 61st, Ireland 62nd, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and Kosovo 84th.

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

The Premier League's Armando Broja and Lazio's Elseid Hysaj are among the Red and Blacks's more notable names, although it was ex- Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their goal chart in qualifying with 3 goals.

Notably, the Albanians have never earned a spot for a World Cup, though they participated at the 2016 European Championship and Euro 2024, failing to reach the last 16 on each times.

While Slovenia and Sweden endured difficult runs, with both not managing to win a qualification match, their group was a straight shootout between Switzerland and the Kosovan team.

The Swiss ended the six-game qualifiers three points ahead of the Kosovans, whose one defeat came at the hands of the group winners.

Kosovo feature ex- Manchester City keeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his nation's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad targeting a first international competition appearance.

They have never faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina lost just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point more than Wales achieved in their 8 games, but still finished 2 points adrift of their group winners Austria.

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

Wales have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in four matches but did have a memorable loss against the Dragons as they qualified for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman despite losing.

As his nation's historic leading scorer and most-capped player, ex- Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, currently with Fiorentina, is unquestionably Bosnia's standout player.

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

Lastly, we have Ireland.

After secured only a single point from their first three qualifiers, Heimir Hallgrímsson's side stormed into the playoffs with successive wins against Armenia, Portugal and Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored both goals against Euro 2016 winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal arriving in the 96th minute – as the Republic of Ireland surprised Hungary to take runner-up place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman had a vital role in his side's resurgence while Premier League keeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the number one jersey his to keep.

Ireland are winless in their past 4 meetings with Wales, losing three of these, although James McClean broke the hopes of the Red Wall as Martin O'Neill's men won a crucial World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.