Scotland World Cup news: John McGinn defends Steve Clarke after "unprofessional" jibe from Norway boss Stale Solbakken

Scotland midfielder John McGinn has defended manager Steve Clarke after he was branded "unprofessional" by Norway boss Stale Solbakken.

The Tartan Army have prepared for their first World Cup appearance in 28 years with victories over Curacao and Bolivia.

However, amid a number of injury concerns, Clarke opted to cancelled a planned behind-closed-doors friendly with Norway on Monday at late notice.

That has led to fierce criticism from Solbakken and team manager Brede Hangeland, the latter describing the development as "embarrassing".

However, speaking at a press conference on Monday, McGinn backed Clarke for putting Scotland first.

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McGinn dismisses Solbakken comments on Clarke

Furthermore, McGinn acknowledged that Scotland have already experienced one major withdrawal due to the knee injury to Billy Gilmour against Curacao.

McGinn told reporters: "Our job's to look after Scotland, Norway's job is to look after Norway.

"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 and we didn't want to lose another.

"We've had a few niggles, not everyone's been training, so I think it's a professional way of handling things to be perfectly honest.

"We have to look after number one and I'm sure every single country will be doing the exact same this summer."

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What next for Scotland?

Scotland are now looking forward to their World Cup opener against Haiti, which takes place in the early hours of June 14, BST.

With the result of that fixture having the potential to be the difference between qualification and elimination, Clarke is right to take whatever decision that he feels is necessary to protect his squad.