Scotland in World Cup war of words with Norway over cancelled training match

Scotland’s return to the World Cup after a 28-year absence has been immediately overshadowed by a war of words with Norway. Steve Clarke and Scotland were branded “unprofessional”, “embarrassing” and “weak” by the Norwegians after the cancellation of a training game planned for Monday in Charlotte. After the Scottish FA expressed “surprise” at the Norwegian stance, the Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn told the aggrieved parties to read up on Scotland’s injury situation. With the Scots and Norway both based in North Carolina, a game was scheduled to afford minutes to players requiring them. Scotland postponed the match on Saturday, with the injury sustained by Billy Gilmour during the recent friendly against Curaçao – which put him out of the World Cup – apparently uppermost in Clarke’s thoughts. Ståle Solbakken, Norway’s head coach, reacted furiously. “It was surprising to me and it is unprofessional of Scotland ,” he said. “It is unprofessional that the coach has not called me, that they use the team manager and call and say it after we have finished training. “I don’t think the injuries they’re blaming came from the last training session. That’s not the case. It’s disappointing. It’s unprofessional. But we have to live with that.” The Scottish FA has pointed out that Clarke and Solbakken had never discussed the game in the first place, with it instead organised between team administrators. Norway’s team manager, Brede Hangeland, was as irked as Solbakken. …