Soccer: Phoenix await Chinese striker

Chinese under-23 international striker Jiang Chen will begin training with the Wellington Phoenix soccer squad this week.

Jiang, who played for Chinese Super League side Tianjin Teda, was brought in to complement imports Chris Greenacre and Paul Ifill. He will begin training this week, but coach Ricki Herbert said he was not yet sure whether Jiang would be part of the squad travelling to Australia for the match against Brisbane.

"We'll see what he's like through the week, but we won't make any decisions until Thursday."

Meanwhile, the Wellington side appear to have gained some confidence from their 2-1 victory over Perth Glory in Wellington on Sunday night.

"It's a tough league and you can get exposed anywhere, but the players that we've got going forward I think really jelled last night," Herbert said.

Striker Leo Bertos, who sealed victory for his team with a 40m free kick five minutes from time, said the win had given the team an essential boost after the disappointing 3-2 loss to the Newcastle Jets in their opening game of the season.

"After last week, the way we lost the game in the last five minutes, the guys were a bit down," he said. "I think because we won, it's given everyone a lot of confidence and hopefully we can take that to Brisbane next week."

He said the new line-up was presenting some difficulties.

"The problem we've got at the moment is that we haven't quite jelled as a team because of the late arrivals and stuff," he said. "We've got players from all around the world so they finish their season and have to come over here, and that makes it harder."

Bertos said having an international side meant there were also difficulties like language barriers .

"But on the other side, with football there's a universal language, you don't have to talk that much on the pitch. Probably another game or two we'll be 100 per cent."

- NZPA