Former All Whites Harry Ngata and Danny Hay believe the Wellington Phoenix will advance past Sydney FC in the A-League playoffs tomorrow night, despite less than impressive recent form.
The Phoenix finished the regular season in fourth, giving them home advantage for the first week of the post-season, and host the competition's glamour club at Westpac Stadium at the unfamiliar kick-off time of 8pm.
Ngata, who scored 29 goals from 129 games for the Football Kingz in the old Australian National Soccer League from 1999-2004, thought the Phoenix provided Sydney with a glimmer of hope after losing the final two games of the regular season, 3-0 to Melbourne Victory and 2-1 to Central Coast.
"It's not ideal. I know the players themselves would be disappointed going into such an important game on the back of two losses, and one of them being at home to Central Coast last week. They've sort of built this impeccable reputation of being really hard to break down at home and teams have found it relatively difficult to get away with any points from there.
"That'll certainly give the Sydney side a bit of confidence and a bit of hope,'' Ngata said.
But, despite stumbling in to the playoffs, Ngata thought Wellington would be too strong for Sydney, a side they have beaten three times already this season with 2-1 and 4-2 wins at home and a 1-0 road victory.
"I think Sydney's going to have to play them off the park to win. They've got the third-best defence in the league, the Phoenix. I think [Ben] Sigmund and [Andrew] Durante at the back, you can't fault them. They got run a little bit ragged against Melbourne Heart I thought a couple of weeks ago in Melbourne.
"But, Manny Muscat on the right, Tony Lochhead on the left, all four of them are really solid players and Sydney are going to have to come down here and play through them. I find that very difficult to see how they're going to penetrate through the middle, particularly with Sigmund and Durante there.''
Hay, who played for Leeds United in the English Premier League before captaining the now-defunct New Zealand Knights in the A-League during the 2006-2007 season, said the Phoenix had the big names to do the job.
"Particularly the fact that they're playing at home,'' Hay said. "Of course, they've got to be heavy favourites. They're heavy favourites in my eyes and I think with the bookies as well. Despite the fact that they had those two losses on the bounce, they've proved three times this year against Sydney that they're the better side.
"I think they've probably just got a little too much experience at this time of year as well. Your Paul Ifills, your Andrew Durantes, Tim Browns, those guys know what it takes to win crucial football games. I look at that Sydney side, they're probably going through what they'd call a rebuilding stage. They're young and light in terms of that hard-nosed experience.
"So that's why I think the Phoenix will probably do it.''
Brown, a foundation member of the club, announced his retirement from football this week and the side will want to send the veteran midfielder out on a high note.
