Scotland called ‘unprofessional’ by Norway after cancelling behind closed doors game

Scotland were due to play Norway in a behind-closed-doors friendly ahead of the World Cup, but cancelled it at the last minute much to the frustration of Norwegian manager Ståle Solbakken.

The game was due to take place on Monday 8 June but Scotland cancelled it due to injuries in the camp.

Speaking to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, 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.

“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.”

Scotland have played both of their scheduled friendlies ahead of the tournament, beating Curacao 4-1 and Bolivia 4-0 in the last 10 days.

They kick off their World Cup against Haiti on 14 June.

Norway’s team manager, former Fulham defender Brede Hangeland, told 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 reply, Scotland manager Steve Clarke said 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.”