Scotland branded ‘unprofessional’ and ‘weak’ after cancelling training match with Norway | OneFootball

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke has been branded "unprofessional" by his Norwegian counterpart, Stale Solbakken, following the abrupt cancellation of a planned training-ground friendly.

The fixture, intended for Monday, was called off by Scotland due to reported injuries within their squad, a decision that has sparked a strong rebuke from the Norwegian camp.

Solbakken voiced his dismay after his side’s 1-1 draw with Morocco, a Group C rival of Scotland. Speaking to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, he stated: "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."

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Stale Solbakken hit out at Scotland for abruptly cancelling a training pitch match against Norway (Reuters)

He further cast doubt on Scotland’s reasoning, adding: "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. That’s why we adjusted a bit in the game."

Norway’s team manager, former Fulham defender Brede Hangeland, echoed the sentiment, telling NRK: "We have been working on that match for many months. It is embarrassing to cancel it a couple of days before.

“We can’t do anything about it, we just have to forget about it and make the best of it. But there has been a lot of organisation, agreements and gentlemen’s agreements and then suddenly they don’t want to. I think that was weak, so to speak."

In response, Clarke offered a concise explanation to BBC Scotland: "It was just going to be a training game for an hour at our training ground. We picked up one or two niggles last week and decided it wasn’t worth the risk."

Both national teams are currently based in North Carolina for their respective World Cup preparations, with Norway situated in Greensboro and Scotland in Charlotte, approximately 90 miles apart.