Clarke's Cancellation of Friendly Draws Criticism from Norway Coach
Steve Clarke, the Scotland head coach, has been described as "unprofessional" by Norway's manager Stale Solbakken following the cancellation of a training-ground friendly between the two teams ahead of the World Cup.
Both Scotland and Norway squads are based in North Carolina, and the friendly was scheduled for Monday. However, on Sunday, the Norwegian Football Federation announced the match was called off due to injuries within the Scotland squad.
Clarke later explained 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."
Despite this, after Norway's 1-1 draw with Morocco—who are Scotland's Group C opponents—in a public friendly on Sunday, Solbakken expressed surprise at the cancellation during an interview with Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
"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.
"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."
Upcoming World Cup Fixtures
Norway will begin their Group I campaign against Iraq next Tuesday, three days after Scotland face Haiti in Group C.
Scotland played their final public preparation match on Saturday, defeating Bolivia 4-0, with Clarke utilizing most of his squad.
Norway Team Manager Responds to Cancellation
Brede Hangeland, Norway's team manager and former Fulham defender, stated that their World Cup preparations had been planned around the closed-door friendly for several months prior to arriving at their base in Greensboro, approximately 90 miles from Scotland's training camp in Charlotte.
"It is embarrassing to cancel it a couple of days before," he added. "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."
