Craig Bellamy's squad Prepared to Take on Anybody in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Draw

The team's sights are firmly on Thursday's World Cup playoff draw as they await learning their semi-final and possible final opponents.

Having ended as runners-up in their qualification group thanks to a decisive 7-1 victory over North Macedonia – their biggest win since 1978 – the side will host the semifinal encounter on their own turf.

They will face either the Albanian side, Bosnia, the Kosovan team or Ireland in that match on 26 March.

Ex- Wales forward Rob Earnshaw feels the Dragons will welcome a match against any team following their latest performance at Cardiff City Stadium.

"I'm familiar with Craig Bellamy, we were teammates with him and his mindset is 'give us anyone, it doesn't matter'," Earnshaw stated.

"A lot of fans were asking last night, 'do we really want Republic of Ireland because of that local feel?'. In my view a number of people didn't. But for me, that would be amazing.

"It's one of those, yes, we're ready for Kosovo or Bosnia and the Albanians are competitive and Republic of Ireland, naturally, they are a very good team so they'll be challenging.

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

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The Welsh squad sit thirty-fourth in the FIFA rankings, with the Albanian team 61st, Ireland sixty-second, Bosnia-Herzegovina 75th and the Kosovan side 84th.

Albania enjoyed a solid qualification run, with their only losses coming at the hands of their group winners England, who claimed maximum points without allowing 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 former Inter Milan, Barcelona and Watford striker Rey Manaj who topped their scoring chart in the qualifiers with three goals.

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

While Slovenia and Sweden endured torrid runs, with both failing to win a qualifying match, Group B was a straight shootout between Switzerland and Kosovo.

The Switzerland finished the six-game campaign three points ahead of Kosovo, whose one loss came at the hands of the pool winners.

The Kosovan squad feature former Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and La Liga's Vedat Muriqi – his country's historic leading goalscorer – in a squad aiming for a maiden major tournament appearance.

They have not yet faced Wales.

Bosnia-Herzegovina were defeated just once in the qualifiers, and earned a point additional than Wales managed in their 8 games, but still ended two points adrift of their group 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 ensured the teams drew in the final game of qualification and Ralf Rangnick's team topped the pool.

The Welsh have not managed to defeat the Bosnian side in 4 matches but experienced a memorable loss against Zmajevi as they earned qualification for Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman even after the defeat.

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

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

Lastly, we have Republic of Ireland.

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

Troy Parrott netted both goals against the 2016 European Championship winners Portugal before bagging a hat-trick – with the third goal coming in the 96th minute – as the Irish stunned Hungary to secure runner-up place in their group in thrilling fashion.

Talisman Seamus Coleman played a vital role in his side's revival while Premier League goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has secured the number one position his own.

Ireland are without a win in their last four encounters with Wales, defeated in three of those, though James McClean shattered the hearts of the Welsh fans as Martin O'Neill's team won a decisive World Cup qualifying match at Cardiff City Stadium in 2017.