Celtic will be ready for Euro opener, vows Neil Lennon

• Neil Lennon is enthused by the schedule his celtic side face on their North American tour. Picture: SNS

Celtic kicked off the tour in the early hours of this morning when they faced Philadelphia Union. They will next take on Manchester United, Seattle Sounders and Sporting Lisbon.

The action then begins for real when Celtic bid to come 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.

"If you look at the opposition, you have different types of teams," he said. "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.

"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."

He added: "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.

"I have a lot of time for the MLS, it's a decent standard," he said. "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 we know there is good a standard. 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."

Lennon believes he is close to making Mexico midfielder Efrain Juarez his latest summer signing. The Celtic manager is confident of landing the 22-year-old, who started three games for his country at the World Cup.

Lennon hopes he could even make his Celtic debut against Manchester United while on their pre-season tour.

He said: "We are very close to signing him and hopefully over the next few days we'll have something on that. He might not come to Philly but hopefully he'll come to Toronto. He's got great energy, is really comfortable on the ball and works really hard without the ball. He's a very fit lad and I think his style will suit us.

He's a hardy little guy as well - he can put his foot in.

"I saw Juarez playing against England at Wembley before the World Cup and just kept an eye on him.

"I thought he looked decent there and in the World Cup and when the opportunity came up we watched him again and again and asked if he would fit in to what we wanted to do here.

"We all agreed that he would. We're not paying massive money for him."

However, his agent Jorge Berlanga has been quoted as saying the player is keen on a move to England or Spain. Meanwhile, a Celtic XI will play First Division side Partick Thistle in a closed doors match at Lennoxtown on Saturday.

Former Celtic player Simon Donnelly is a doubt for Thistle, with a tight hamstring. The visitors also have doubts over the fitness of defender Willie Kinniburgh.