“We’re not intimidated,” he tells www.au.fourfourtwo.com ahead of the Asian Champions League clash. “There’s respect for sure but we’re not scared of them particularly after what we did in China in game one of the group.

“We’d be satisfied with a draw but we must win our home games, especially as we have to go to Saitama and play in front of 60,000 fans against Urawa.”

Carney also urged Sydneysiders to get behind the A-League season one champions. “It’s one of our biggest games. We need the crowd to be as hostile as possible and in numbers.”

The former Everton youth team player – and teammate of Wayne Rooney at Goodison Park – says FC will pore over videos of Diamonds games today (Tuesday) in the hope of pinpointing a flaw in their multimillion dollar squad.

“They’ve got two good winners and a big defender who are great players.”

That defender is Yuki Abe, while in midfield Shinji Ono runs the show and upfront enigmatic Brazilian Washington comes into Aussie stadium on the back of two goals in the J-League on Saturday.

However, Carney believes the Reds have a distinct advantage over Branko Culina’s revitalised FC. “They’re playing in their league every week whereas we have a game every two weeks or so in the champions league. That is to their advantage. We have to try and stay sharp.

“But as you can see from our record,” he added, “we’re always hard to beat at home.”