Player Profile: Orlando Sa
 Full name: Orlando Carlos Braga Sá
Position: Forward
Date of Birth: 26 March 1988
Birthplace: Barcelos, Portugal
A masterclass in clinical finishing as a hat-trick of headed goals destroyed Spain in a Portugal U-21 victory in November 2008 announced the arrival of Orlando Sa.
Qualities rarely associated with the archetypal Portuguese striker – a strong physical presence, an excellent aerial threat, a readiness to shoot on sight – immediately marked out the 1.88 metre tall (6 foot 2 inches) forward as potentially the high-quality front man Portugal has long yearned for.
FC Porto certainly did not take much convincing that Sa had a big future in front of him. In the summer of 2009 the Portuguese champions splashed out 3 million euros on the forward, although he had only played 10 senior matches for Braga and despite the fact he was recovering from a serious knee ligament injury at the time.
The injury kept him out of action until after Christmas in 2009/10. Surrounded by players of an excellent calibre, Sa will attempt to learn fast and force his way into Jesualdo Ferreira’s thinking in the second half of the season.
A positive showing and a run of goals could conceivably see the player receive a call-up for South Africa from Carlos Queiroz, who gave him his full Portugal debut in a friendly against Finland.
by Tom Kundert (01/03/2010)
| Club |
Appearances* |
Goals |
| Sporting Braga |
10 |
4 |
| Maria Fonte (loan) |
26 |
31 |
| FC Porto** |
3 |
0 |
| |
|
|
| PORTUGAL |
1 |
0 |
* League appearances only
** Up to February 2010
|
