 Despite losing their first game, Neil Lennon believes Celtic's pre-season tour of North America make sure they are more than ready for their Champions League qualifier. The Hoops kicked off their tour with a 1-0 reverse against Philadelphia Union. They will have to regroup before taking on Manchester United, Seattle Sounders and Sporting Lisbon in the coming days. The real action will then turn to Europe when Lennon hops to steer his side through the third qualifying round of the Champions League and book their place in the competition proper. And, as far as Lennon is concerned, he could not have asked for better preparation over the next week ahead of those crunch games. Speaking before last night's game, Lennon said: "If you look at the opposition, you have different types of teams. You have Philadelphia. Then we play Manchester United, one of the best teams in the world. So the players will get a good look at the quality of players they will be playing in the next few weeks. The Philadelphia game will be important in just getting back into the groove, getting back into the fitness side of things. Allied to that, Philadelphia will give us a tough game. The players are just focused on getting some football time on the pitch as they have done quite a bit of fitness work over the last week or so. It's important that we avoid injury, which is why we have brought two squads with us, and also that we give the players enough playing time before we go back to the Champions League at the end of the tour." Having been impressed by the United States national team at the World Cup, Lennon is relishing the prospect of taking on some of the nation's domestic teams. He said: "I have a lot of time for the MLS, it's a decent standard. America had a pretty good World Cup and have got some players that have come to prominence from the national team - and players who have interested us over the last year or two. We have played here before in America, and played MLS teams, such as New England, Tampa Bay and Washington - so there is good a standard. And the boys know they will be in for a tough time because physically the MLS teams will be ahead of us at this time of the season." |