Haiti's record goalscorer Duckens Nazon was already strapped into his seat, the aircraft on the tarmac at Tehran airport ready to take off, when his phone lit up with a message from a friend playing in Israel.

Haiti coach Sebastien Migne said Friday his team are targeting a place in the knockout rounds of the World Cup as he named a 26-strong squad for the tournament.

Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, is going to the 2026 World Cup -- the culmination of an 18-month period of painstaking work by coach Sebastien Migne who is yet to even visit the country.