Turkey fired themselves into the World Cup finals last night with a blistering 5-0 win against Austria in the second leg of their play-off for a 6-0 aggregate victory.

Goals from Yildiray Basturk, Hakan Sukur and Okan Buruk in the first half followed by two more from Arif Erdem late on earned them victory at Galatasaray's Ali Sami Yen stadium in Istanbul.

The Turks dominated the game with Inter Milan forward Burak linking with Hakan Sukur to devastating effect to guarantee a first World Cup berth since 1954.

"I'm delighted, this country is on the up . . . now we're all going to Korea," Turkey coach Senol Gunes told reporters after the game.

It was Burak, scorer of the only goal in Vienna, who put the game beyond Austria's reach in the 44th minute after Bayer Leverkusen's Yildiray Basturk and the enigmatic Sukur both scored fine goals to put Austria firmly on the back foot.

Early second-half substitutions by coach Otto Baric failed to turn the game for the Austrians as a double strike from substitute Arif Erdem sent Turkey marching to the 2002 finals in South Korea and Japan.

Thousands of Turks hit the streets around the country to join the celebrations, shaking off the worries and uncertainties of the economic crisis that has hit the country in recent months.

"The Turkish people need some hope, something to look forward to in the future," Gunes said. "And now at least they can say they're going to the World Cup."

The Austrians, who qualified for the play-offs after a controversial trip to Israel, will have few complaints after being totally outplayed by Gunes's team who qualified for a second major finals in succession through a play-off. They beat the Republic of Ireland to qualify for Euro 2000.

TURKEY: Recber; Davala, Ercan, Ozat, Ozalan, Asik, Buruk (Yalcin 62), Kerimoglu, Sukur, Basturk (Erdem 41), Sas.

AUSTRIA: Wohlfahrt; Prilasnig (Kitzbichler 45), Vukovic, Winkhofer, Floegel, Lexa (Schopp 54), Strafner, Hiden, Vastic (Weissenberger 74), Herzog, Haas.

Referee: P Collina (Italy).