Slovenia beats New Zealand 3-1 in WCup warmup

Slovenia came out on top against New Zealand with a 3-1 victory in their latest World Cup warm-up game.

All the goals arrived in the first half, with Milivoje Novakovic's opener for Slovenia cancelled out by Rory Fallon.

Novakovic then struck for a second time on the half hour mark and Andraz Kirm added a third to seal the win.



The result - two days before Slovenia leave for South Africa - is a boost for the tiny country ahead of their World Cup campaign.

Novakovic broke the deadlock in the seventh minute with a free-kick from 25 yards.

Fallon capitalised on some confusion in the Slovenia defence to volley home an equaliser in the 20th minute

Novakovic scored a free-kick from a similar distance to his first ten minutes later, before Kirm pounced on a rebound just before the interval to make it 3-1.

Slovenia are in Group C at the World Cup alongside England, USA and Algeria, while New Zealand will do battle with Italy, Paraguay and Slovakia in Group F.