Why Norway and Scotland are embroiled in war of words before World Cup

Scotland’s John McGinn would retort later that it was their job to look after their players and Norway should have done some research before commenting.

“Our job is to look after Scotland, Norway’s job is to look after Norway” 🗣️

John McGinn responds to Norway’s criticism after Scotland cancelled their planned friendly ahead of the World Cup 🏆 pic.twitter.com/XIvYx7naR0

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 8, 2026

“I would say 75% of the squad didn’t see it. I did see it. Our job is to look after Scotland. Norway’s job is to look after Norway. If they have done their research, we lost a very important part of the squad very close to this camp and that had a huge impact on everyone. We didn’t want to lose another. We have had a few niggles, not everybody has been training. So I think it is a professional way of handling things, to look after No 1. I’m sure every single country would do the exact same,” he said in a press conference.

“Norway will be angry because they have their own plans, they probably set up for that game. But if Norway lost Erling Haaland or Martin Odegaard in one of the games leading up to the tournament, they would cancel the game as well,” he added.

Norway are in Group D in the World Cup along with Iraq, Senegal and France while Scotland are in Group Group C with Haiti, Morocco and Brazil. If by any chance, these two sides meet in the next few rounds, it promises to offer fireworks.