Cancelled friendly sparks row between Scotland, Norway coaches

A planned behind-closed-doors friendly match between Scotland and Norway, intended as preparation for their upcoming World Cup campaigns, has been canceled by Scotland, igniting a public dispute between the two national team coaches. The fixture was scheduled for Monday in North Carolina.

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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.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke stated that the decision to withdraw from the training-ground game was made to prevent aggravating minor injuries within his squad. "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," Clarke was quoted as saying by BBC Sport.

However, Norway's head coach, Stale Solbakken, sharply criticized Scotland's handling of the situation, describing it as "unprofessional." Speaking after Norway's public friendly against Morocco, Solbakken expressed disappointment, stating, "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." He also questioned the validity of Scotland's injury claims, suggesting they did not stem from the most recent training session.

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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.

Norway team manager Brede Hangeland echoed Solbakken's frustration, noting that arrangements for the match had been in place for months. "It is embarrassing to cancel it a couple of days before. We can’t do anything about it," Hangeland said. "But there has been a lot of organisation, agreements and gentlemen’s agreements and then suddenly they don’t want to." He characterized the cancellation as "weak."

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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.

Both Scotland and Norway are currently based in North Carolina as they prepare for their respective World Cup qualifying campaigns. Norway is set to begin its Group I campaign against Iraq next Tuesday, while Scotland will face Haiti in their Group C opener three days earlier. Scotland enters the tournament following a decisive 4-0 victory over Bolivia in their final public warm-up match.

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It is embarrassing to cancel it a couple of days before. We can’t do anything about it.