Scotland's defender Andrew Robertson (R) congratulates Scotland's midfielder John McGinn (L) on the pitch after the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualification football match between Scotland and Austria at Hampden Park in Glasgow on March 25, 2021. - The game finished 2-2. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Scotland captain John McGinn has delivered a sharp response to Norwegian officials who branded his country’s decision to cancel a training game as unprofessional.
The row erupted after Scotland scrapped a behind-closed-doors bounce game against Norway at the eleventh hour ahead of the 2026 World Cup in the United States.
Norway boss Stale Solbakken publicly attacked the decision, while former Fulham defender and operations manager Brede Hangeland called Scotland’s conduct both embarrassing and weak.
McGinn pushed back firmly when those comments were put to him at Scotland’s tournament basecamp in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Aston Villa skipper argued that Norway would have understood the cancellation had they looked into the injury circumstances surrounding Billy Gilmour’s withdrawal from Steve Clarke’s squad.
McGinn said: “I would say 75 per cent of the squad haven’t seen it. I did see it. Our job is to look after Scotland. Norway’s job is to look after Norway.”
He continued: “And if they’ve done their research we lost a very important part of the squad, very, very close to this camp. It had a huge impact on everyone.”
McGinn also suggested Norway would have made the same call under similar circumstances, saying: “If Norway lost Erling Haaland or Martin Odegaard in one of the games leading up to Saturday they would have cancelled the game as well.”
Clarke himself kept his comments brief, stating: “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 Scottish Football Association released a statement defending the process by which the cancellation was communicated to the Norwegian camp.
The SFA said the game was organised between respective team managers rather than head coaches, and that the same process was followed when the cancellation was communicated.
Their statement read: “We have had some injuries during our previous friendlies and when it became apparent that a training game would bring greater risk than potential preparatory reward, we alerted the Norway team manager as soon as possible.”
The SFA also expressed surprise that details of the planned session had leaked publicly, noting the game was due to be behind closed doors and not announced to the media.
Scotland are adamant the Norwegians were informed before Clarke’s side beat Bolivia 4-0 in New Jersey on Saturday, though the Scandinavians have not accepted that version of events.
Solbakken remained scathing after Norway’s warm-up match against Morocco, saying: “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.”
The Norwegian coach added: “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.”
Hangeland reinforced his manager’s frustration, saying: “We have been working on that match for many months. It is embarrassing to cancel it a couple of days before.”
He concluded: “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.”
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