Scotland have cancelled a behind-closed-doors match with Norway ahead of the World Cup, with the Norwegian FA stating the decision was made ‘due to injuries.’
Steve Clarke’s side get their World Cup campaign underway on Sunday June 14 against Haiti, followed by group games against Morocco and Brazil.
Preparation seemed to be going well on Saturday as they romped to a 4-0 friendly win over Bolivia, with goals from Lawrence Shankland, Scott McTominay and two from Che Adams.
However, there is clearly some concern among the squad as the planned game with Norway has been scrapped.
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Morten Morisbak Skjonsberg, the Norwegian FA media manager, said: ‘It is a poorly-kept secret that we were supposed to play a training match against Scotland on Monday.
‘Today we learned that Scotland unfortunately had to withdraw from the agreement due to injuries.’
Norway head coach Stale Solbakken added, ahead of a friendly with Morocco on Sunday: ‘The idea of playing Scotland was that we could get some minutes in the legs of the guys who don’t play in the Morocco game. The cancellation means I will make more changes in our game against Morocco.’
The BBC report the issues as ‘a couple of minor fitness concerns’ in the Scotland squad.
Clarke sounded very positive about the state of his squad on Saturday after the encouraging victory over Bolivia in New Jersey.
‘For once I got everything I asked for – no injuries, a performance and a good result,’ he told BBC Scotland.
‘We spoke a lot this week about being more clinical, and yeah, nice.
‘Front two were good. To be fair, the whole team were good first half. The two strikers complemented each other well.
‘As we get to this stage, we’re as well prepared as we can be. Next week is a different ball game – it’s the World Cup, Haiti are a really good side. They beat NZ 4-0; England only managed to beat them 1-0 today.
‘We understand the type of game we’re going to get against Haiti, it’s up to us to put on a performance and play the way we need to play to get the result.’
Asked if he is set on his starting XI against Haiti, he said: ‘No. I’ve got some decisions to make. The starting XI becomes a fixation, but this is a tournament for your finishing XI.
‘It’s going to be great. We’ve waited a long time for this. The only thing I keep reminding myself is try to enjoy the moments.’