One Wolves player was ‘furious’ on Tuesday night, despite ending up on the winning side for his country.
Some players from Molineux are currently on duty with their countries ahead of international tournaments, with many of those not involved going on holiday to recharge their batteries.
On Tuesday night, Portugal took on Finland as they continued their preparation for Euro 2024.
It was a relatively comfortable win for the Selecao in the end, despite conceding two quick-fire goals in the second-half to Teemu Pukki after going 3-0 up.
Pedro Neto caught the eye for Portugal, but it wasn’t the best of evenings for Jose Sa…
Wolves star Jose Sa struggles on second cap for Portugal
Roberto Martinez was keen to get a look at some of the players on the fringes of his squad, and there was therefore a chance for Sa to stake his claim against Finland.
He played a whole game, but it wasn’t the best of outings for the Wolves man.
It wasn’t that he particularly made any mistakes. It was just that all he had to do was pick the ball out of his own net twice.
Goal gave him a 4/10 rating, and said of his performance: “Had nothing to do all match but pick the ball out of the net twice. Looked furious at losing his clean sheet.”
Pukki took his first goal pretty well. He breached the offside trap and then confidently beat Sa with a little chip over the Wolves number one, who couldn’t really do much about it.
Pukki then found space in the area due to some sloppy Portugal positioning, and finished fairly easily into the far corner, with Sa again standing no real chance of making a save.
Sa fails audition
So it was not a game to remember for Sa.
It is a shame because Portugal dominated, meaning he didn’t have a great deal to do and lacked those moments to catch his manager’s eye.
When the opportunities did arise, Pukki showed real clash and gave the Wolves stopper no real chance to make any saves.
Sa – who has been linked with an exit from Wolves – will be disappointed because it was an opportunity for him to perhaps make a case to go into Euro 2024 as Portugal’s starting goalkeeper.
He could well get more opportunities against Croatia and the Republic of Ireland. But Martinez may also want to take a look at his other options Diogo Costa and Rui Patricio.