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Kwasi Owusu rested on Saturday, November 7, 2020, in Sunyani, after the final funeral rites.
‘Power House’, as he was affectionately called, was buried in a boot-shaped coffin in recognition of his prowess on goal.
READ MORE: Ghana Premier League Coaches List for 2020/2021 Season
It is understood that the idea of burying him in a boot-shaped coffin was raised by his former teammates to celebrate his enviable achievement as a footballer.
The football fraternity, which includes members of the Ghana Football Association and other football personalities, namely former Ghana coach Kwasi Appiah, legends Asante Kotoko, Malik Jabir, Ntow Gyan and many others were present to say goodbye to him.
Kwasi Owusu played for Ghana from 1967 to 1977 and recorded 40 goals for the Black Stars.
Kwasi Owusu passed away on March 30, 2020 in Sunyani after a brief illness.
Background
Kwasi Owusu was born on November 7, 1945 in Nkoronza, in the Bono region, where he hails from.
‘Power House’ played his lower division football at Techiman before he was seen and given the opportunity to play his club football with Bofoakwa United in the late 1960s.
Kwasi Owusu played all of his club football for Bofoakwa Tano and held a prominent place for the Black Stars for a decade and was even captain of the Ghana national soccer team from 1975 to 1977.
He got his name ‘Power House’ in Black Stars due to his ability to intimidate defenders with his strength and his physically intimidating nature both in the air and when moving forward.
Owusu started racing at Boafoakwa and made his mark, influencing the national team managers to give him a chance to join the Black Stars.
Kwasi Owusu represented Ghana at the 70th African Cup of Nations held in Sudan. Owusu was at the center of the event in 1970, scoring three goals as Ghana reached its fourth consecutive final in continental testing.
However, the Westerners lost 1-0 to Sudan and the Black Stars received an ultimatum from the Sudanese government to leave the country because they were protesting the goal.
One of the highlights of Kwasi Owusu’s career was when he represented Ghana at the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich, Germany.
Wearing the colors of the national jersey, the bulky forward scored 40 goals and is among the Black Stars’ top three forwards in international matches after Asamoah Gyan and Edward Acquah.
One of the games in which he showed his power against goal was a hat-trick he recorded against Nigeria in 1973 in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Lagos.
All hell broke loose when Owusu put Nigeria on the sword and the game ended abruptly. Nigerian fans burned Ghana’s bus for the trip. The results were annulled and Ghana received two points and two goals, which was standard practice at the time instead of three points and three goals.
‘Power House’, as it was affectionately called, would be remembered for scoring five goals against Niger, before recording four goals in the reverse match when Ghana defeated the Nigerians 15-1 on aggregate in the African Cup qualifying rounds of Nations of 1970; scored nine goals in both games. His five goals in a single game for the Black Stars are second only to Kofi Pare, who recorded six goals against Kenya when Ghana defeated the East Africans 13-2 in 1965.
At club level, he nurtured another striker in the person of Dan Kwasi Owusu when the latter joined Bofoakwa.
Dan Owusu, who was a disciple of Kwasi Owusu, would emerge as perhaps the best striker in the history of Ghana’s premier league. He became the first player to win the league’s top scorer on three consecutive occasions, scoring 24 goals in 1974, 26 goals in 1975, and 28 goals in 1976.
Dan Owusu and Kwesi Owusu formed the deadliest attacking duo in Ghanaian club football history, and between them they gave defenders a great time. In the season when Dan Owusu scored 28 goals, Kwasi Owusu also scored 24 goals, so between them, they recorded 52 league goals for Bofoakwa.
The 75-year-old deceased recorded more than 100 goals for Bofoakwa and 40 goals for Ghana excluding Nigeria’s which was disallowed (he would have scored 43 goals).
Kwasi Owusu, apart from being among the top three Black Stars scorers, is second to Asamoah Gyan on the list of the Black Stars best scorers in competitive international football.
Competitive games for Ghana include the World Cup, the Nations Cup, the Olympics, the All-Africa Games, and the Playoffs that involve these competitions.
He recorded an incredible 28 goals for Ghana in competitive matches. Below are all the goals he scored with the Black Stars jersey.
International targets
Date Match Number of goals scored Competition
August 17, 1969 Ghana 6-0 Niger 5 1970 African Cup of Nations qualification match
September 21, 1969 Niger 1-9 Ghana 4 1970 African Cup of Nations qualification match
February 7, 1970 Congo-Kinshasa 0-2 Ghana 2 1970 First round of the African Cup of Nations
February 11, 1970 Ghana 1-1 Guinea 1 1970 First round of the African Cup of Nations
April 15, 1970 Ghana 3-0 Ivory Coast 1 International Friendly
April 19, 1970 Ghana 1-1 Ivory Coast 1 International Friendly
February 7, 1971 Ghana 2-1 Sierra Leone 1 International Friendly
May 2, 1971 Ivory Coast 2-6 Ghana 2 International Friendlies
April 30, 1972 Cameroon 0-3 Ghana 1 1972 Summer Olympics
June 18, 1972 Dahomey 0-5 Ghana 2 1974 FIFA World Cup qualifying match
July 2, 1972 Ghana 5-1 Dahomey 1 1974 FIFA World Cup qualifying match
January 8, 1973 Nigeria 4-2 Ghana 1 First round of the 1973 African Games
January 10, 1973 Tanzania 0-1 Ghana 1 First round of the 1973 African Games
January 14, 1973 Guinea 2-1 Ghana 1 1973 African Games Semifinal
March 23, 1975 Upper Volta (Burkina) 1-3 Ghana 2 Friendly.
August 17, 1974 Nigeria 0-1 Ghana 1 Nigerian / Ghana Festival
September 11, 1974 Ivory Coast 1-1 Ghana 1 Friendly
December 14, 1975 Ghana 6-2 Guinea 3 Qualifying match for the 1976 Summer Olympics
March 28, 1976 Ghana 4-0 Togo 1
Friendly
April 6, 1976 Ghana 6-0 Liberia 2 Qualifying match for the 1976 Summer Olympics
April 13, 1976 Mali 3-1 Ghana 1 1976 African Cup of Nations qualification match
April 20, 1976 Liberia 1-4 Ghana 2 Qualifying match for the 1976 Summer Olympics
April 27, 1976 Ghana 4-0 Mali 1 1978 African Cup of Nations qualifying match
Aug 24, 1976 Ghana 1-2 Nigeria 1 Nigeria / Ghana Festival
Aug 31, 1976 Ghana 3-0 Nigeria 1 (pen.) Nigeria / Ghana Festival
