A jubilant Pignata told au.fourfourtwo.com this afternoon that the club could have sold "another 5-10,000 tickets" for Sunday's elimination semi- final against Newcastle Jets at Westpac stadium.

All tickets have been snapped up six days before the club's big game as New Zealand turns onto A-League football like never before.

"The country's abuzz, mate. The city's abuzz. It's fantastic. I've been here from day one, so to see all the hard work we've put in on and off the park come to fruition is very satisfying," an excited Pignata said.

New Zealand's football renaissance has been nothing short of extraordinary. After years in the doldrums, the last few months has seen  the national team under Ricki Herbert qualified for its first World Cup since 1982.

On top of that local side Auckland City shocked the more established sides at the Club World Cup in the UAE last December.

Phoenix qualifying for their first play-offs after just three seasons in the A-League was the icing on the cake at the Cake Tin.

In fact, it could be argued that there's been a shift of power in the A-League from Australia to Wellington.

In the first week of the finals, the New Zealand club easily pulled the biggest crowd. Over 24,000 fans witnessed the black and gold defeat Perth Glory 4-2 on penalties in their first elimination semi.

By contrast, a paltry 4000 plus saw Gold Coast lose to the Jets and around 18,000 was on hand in Melbourne for the Sydney major semi final. 

With a sellout this Sunday, Phoenix are likely to again top the crowd charts with estimates of a 30,000 attendance at the SFS for Sydney FC versus Melbourne Victory.

However, a sobering note for Phoenix remains the fact that a number of key players won't return to Wellington till around 24 hours before Sunday's do-or-die game.

New Zealand play in LA against Mexico on Wednesday night in a warm-up ahead of the World Cup. With the time difference, players like Tim Brown, Leo Bertos and Tony Lochhead won't return to Wellington til around 24 hours before the big game.

What's more, defensive rocks Andy Durante and Johnny McKain will be in Australia till Thursday on Socceroo duty. add to that, Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert is also on duty with the All-Whites and has fitted in a trip to South Africa over the last week.

Preparation issues aside, the club is favoured to win on Sunday. Irrespective of the result, though, Pignata feels the club has made a statement about what it brings to the A-League.

And he hosed down reports that the Oceania-based club had already been granted a ten-year extension to their A-League licence.

"There are still some boxes to be ticked with AFC and FIFA but we know FFA will be working hard on this issue," said Pignata.

However Phoenix players are registered in Australia and the club has been meeting with FFA CEO Ben Buckley in recent days to work towards a resolution about the club's future in what is an AFC affiliated A-League.

Pignata predicted it would take another few months before any decision would be made.

"There is more work to be done to convince AFC about our licence," he said.

Pignata said that the club would also abide by AFC rules regarding visa players if and when Phoenix qualified for the AFC Champions League.

He added: "We are the only professional football club in New Zealand, so we hope that the club can continue in the future.

"We've pulled great crowds across the country and we feel what we've done on and off the park has added to the A-League."