Loud crowd would help: McEnroe

“I expect our guys to play exceptionally well,” McEnroe told reporters in the buildup to the three-day tie that starts on Friday.

“Of course, that doesn’t guarantee a win because we’re playing against a very, very tough team with a lot of great players and a lot of versatility.

“But we feel good about our chances and we like playing at home in front of our crowd, we’ll take that kind of pressure.”

McEnroe said the team were looking forward to playing in the Portland stadium, which would be “packed all day”.

“The players are excited about it, they sort of feed off the energy of the crowd. There’s a real buzz around the country, for the tennis fans especially, that this is a big deal.”

World number six Andy Roddick, who will spearhead the American challenge in Portland, agreed. “We’re expecting a rowdy crowd just based solely on the fact that it sold out in about 17 minutes,” he said. “That shows us that the people here want to be here and they’re excited about being here. And so are we.”

The United States, winners of a record 31 Davis Cup titles, are desperate to win the prestigious team trophy for the first time in 12 years.

Their last success came in 1995 when Pete Sampras led them to victory over Russia on clay in Moscow.

Under McEnroe’s captaincy, the Americans lost the 2004 final to Spain on the clay of Seville, going down 3-2.

McEnroe accepts the versatile Russian team will definitely provide formidable opponents in world number four Nikolay Davydenko, 19th-ranked Mikhail Youzhny, Igor Andreev (33rd) and Dmitry Tursunov (34th).

“These guys (the Russians) are pros and they’ve played very well in the Davis Cup, winning it last year,” he said. “They all can play on different surfaces.

“We certainly understand that this is going to be a very tough match to win. We’re going to have to play well.”

Tarpishchev was coy about who he was likely to select as Russia’s one and two. “I’m asking the same question of myself,” he said with a smile. “It’s too early.”