Norway's Solbakken brands Scotland 'unprofessional' after Clarke cancels training friendly

Norway head coach Stale Solbakken has labelled Scotland ‘unprofessional’ after Steve Clarke’s side cancelled a planned training friendly at short notice, citing squad injuries. The fixture, scheduled for Monday while both nations are based in North Carolina for World Cup preparations, was called off without a direct call from Clarke to his Norwegian counterpart.

Speaking to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK following Norway’s 1-1 draw with Morocco — a Group C rival of Scotland — Solbakken made his frustration clear. “It was at least as 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.”

Solbakken also questioned the validity of Scotland’s injury explanation. “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 team manager Brede Hangeland, the former Fulham defender, was equally pointed in his criticism. “We have been working on that match for many months. It is embarrassing to cancel it a couple of days before,” he told NRK. “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.”

Clarke offered a brief defence of the decision when speaking 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.”

The two squads are separated by roughly 90 miles in North Carolina, with Norway based in Greensboro and Scotland in Charlotte. The public spat adds an awkward backdrop to both nations’ World Cup preparations, particularly given they share a group.