John McGinn hits back at Stale Solbakken over cancelled Scotland-Norway warm-up | OneFootball

John McGinn has defended Scotland’s decision to cancel a behind-closed-doors warm-up with Norway, pushing back at Stale Solbakken’s claim it was unprofessional. The game was called off on Sunday because of injuries in the Scotland camp.

"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.

The nations are based in North Carolina for the World Cup, with Norway in Greensboro about 90 miles from Scotland’s Charlotte camp. A 60-minute training game at Scotland’s base had been planned for Monday.

McGinn said Scotland had to look after themselves, noting Billy Gilmour’s late withdrawal before the squad flew to the United States. He added there were niggles in camp and some players had not trained.

He accepted Norway would be angry after planning for the fixture, but argued that if they had lost Erling Haaland or Martin Odegaard this week they would also have cancelled.

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

Source: ExpressAndStar.com