John McGinn defends Scotland after Stale Solbakken anger at scrapped World Cup warm-up | OneFootball

John McGinn has defended Scotland’s decision to cancel a planned behind-closed-doors game after Norway manager Stale Solbakken called the move unprofessional.

Both teams are based in North Carolina for the World Cup and had arranged a 60-minute workout at Scotland’s training ground in Charlotte on Monday. The fixture was called off on Sunday because of injuries in the Scotland camp.

McGinn said Scotland had to protect their own squad, noting the loss of Billy Gilmour before flying to the United States and further niggles that limited training. He added that every country would act the same in a tournament build-up.

The Aston Villa captain suggested Norway would likely have cancelled too if they had lost Erling Haaland or Martin Odegaard in the days before their opener.

Solbakken said: “It was at least as surprising to me and it is unprofessional of Scotland. 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,” he told NRK.

Norway team manager Brede Hangeland said: “We have been working on that match for many months. It is embarrassing to cancel it a couple of days before.”

A Scottish Football Association spokesperson said the training game had been arranged between team managers, and was cancelled when the risk of further injury outweighed any benefit. They added it was due to be unannounced and behind closed doors, and expressed surprise that details emerged.

Source: ExpressAndStar.com