John McGinn rebukes Stale Solbakken after Scotland cancel World Cup warm-up with Norway | OneFootball

John McGinn has defended Scotland’s decision to scrap a planned warm-up with Norway and pushed back at Stale Solbakken’s claim it was unprofessional.

The World Cup teams are both in North Carolina, with a 60-minute, behind-closed-doors run-out set for Monday at Scotland’s Charlotte base. The Norwegian Football Federation announced on Sunday that the game had been cancelled because of injuries in the Scotland camp.

Solbakken criticised the move, saying it was unprofessional that Steve Clarke did not call him and that the message was passed on by the team manager after Norway had finished training. He also questioned whether the injuries cited came from the latest session, speaking after a 1-1 draw with Morocco.

McGinn said Scotland must look after their own interests, pointing to the late loss of Billy Gilmour before the squad flew to the United States and to minor knocks that have limited training. He argued it was the professional course to avoid further risk and said every country would do the same this summer.

He added that if Norway had lost Erling Haaland or Martin Odegaard before Saturday, they would probably have cancelled as well.

Norway team manager Brede Hangeland called the late cancellation embarrassing after months of planning and agreements, though he said they would now move on and make the best of it.

Norway are based in Greensboro, about 90 miles from Scotland’s training camp.

Source: ExpressAndStar.com