Goals in each half from Dylan Macallister and Andrew Durante, who also chipped in with an own-goal late in the game, were enough to see off the South American side that beat Melbourne Victory 1-0 last week.

"It's a pretty big scalp to take," said Herbert. "It was always going to be interesting tonight to see where we were at.

"That calibre of team was always going to be the measure of it. We've got a lot of work to do but I was very pleased."

The match, played in wet and very windy conditions, was fairly heated at times with several clashes between players and some crude challenges.

In all seven players were booked and Boca defender Christian Cellay sent off in the 73rd minute for his second yellow card after an altercation with Paul Ifill.

"It was probably a little bit from both teams," said Phoenix skipper Andrew Durante.

"We've got good respect for them and I'm sure they had respect for us. But it got a little bit heated at times.

"We're only three weeks out from the season so there's no point going in there half-hearted. We wanted to win, especially at home so I guess it was a little bit expected."

Macallister's 24th minute effort was his second goal for the club in three pre-season outings, while Durante's header in the 61st minute was also his second for the Phoenix after breaking his lengthy drought in last season's Preliminary Final loss to Sydney.

"It was nice to get the first one and hopefully it's a sign of things to come this season," the defender said.

"The second one I got my feet a little bit tangled trying to block the cross and it was a little bit freaky to end up in the net like that. Hopefully I've used my one own-goal for the season in the pre-season."

The win stretches the Phoenix's unbeaten run at Westpac Stadium to 20 games and Durante felt rival A-League teams would again struggle to get results when they crossed the Tasman.

"To get a win at home and keep that unbeaten record alive is fantastic. I don't know who can come here and knock us off. It's going to be a big ask," he said.

Boca Juniors coach Claudio Borghi thought his team, missing at least half-a-dozen regulars, had played well in patches.

Marcelo Canete was again the standout performer for Boca and both he and Pablo Mouche wasted good opportunities in front of goal.

"At times we did play well. Probably our biggest problem was that our wide men were not able to go down the wings like we would have liked," Borghi said.

His players also seemed to have trouble coping with the physical nature of the Phoenix game.

"It's difficult for us because our football is more technique so you never catch them off guard," he said. "It's always difficult for South American teams to play against teams that run a lot.

"They [Phoenix] play football very similar to the English, very fast and physically they are very strong.

"The back four was always there and Paul Ifill made things difficult for us. We play a system of three at the back and with him staying out wide it meant one of our wide men had to stay with him so our attack couldn't get forward."

Borghi was also not unduly worried about the number of heated exchanges or yellow cards shown to his players.

"Sometimes the language barrier means there's more pushing and shoving than talking," he admitted.

"If they could talk and communicate there probably wouldn't be so much pushing.

"I don't like it when it's like that. But it usually happens in friendly matches and not official games."