Slovenia reach World Cup finals for first time

Slovenia held on for a 1-1 draw in Bucharest to progress to the 2002 World Cup finals.

A narrow 3-2 aggregate win sees Slovenia reach the finals for the first time but they had to survive pressure from Romania that arguably saw the last tilt at success by an ageing squad which coach Gheorghe Hagi must now revitalise.

Adrian Ilie and Christian Chivu both failed to hit the target from close range in the best chances of the opening exchanges of a scrappy game but the visitors went into the lead in the 55th minute when Mladen Rudonja rode a hard challenge to shoo t and score but Cosmin Contra equalised eight minutes later when he cut inside on a run down the right to score with a rising cross shot that roused Romania to fight hard for their World Cup lives.

Chivu almost created the comeback but his snap shot slapped against the crossbar and Slovenia - determinedly defending throughout - reached the finals.