France, Oct. 10 -- Nigeria head coach Eric Chelle urged his squad to focus on beating Lesotho in their penultimate game in the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, not on the permutations emerging from the other fixtures in the pool.

The runners-upat the last Africa Cup of Nations go into their game against Lesotho on Friday night in third place in Group C with 11 points.

Benin lead the pack with 14 points ahead of South Africa on goal difference. They play Rwanda, who have 11 points.

As the teams enter the last two games, four nations have the chance of advancing automatically to the World Cup next summer in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

"Now we have the last two games, and our only thinking for now is this game versus Lesotho,...