The Black Stars of Ghana play against the Harambee Stars of Kenya this Saturday in Nairobi on the occasion of the second match-day of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification tournament.
FootballmadeinGhana.com was proud to be given an exclusive audience by the great Osei Kofi – one of the greatest dribblers the country has ever had – ahead of Saturday’s crunch affair.
It will be the eighth football meeting between the two countries with the history of matches between Ghana and the Kenyans dating as far back as 30th September 1964 when the first ever match between the two nations took place in which the Black Stars soundly won by 7-1.
But the most memorable match for both sides was the 13-2 victory Ghana recorded over Kenya on 10 December 1965 during a Jamhuri independence match. It is unforgettable by the Kenyans because it is the worse ever marginal defeat the Harambee Stars have ever suffered and forever memorable and revered by Ghanaians because it is the country’s biggest ever soccer win and one of the best ever days of Ghana football.
One man who played and scored 4 of the 13 goals the Black Stars scored on December 10, 1965 at the Jamhuri Park was Ghana and Asante Kotoko legend Osei Kofi (OK) who speaks to FootballmadeinGhana.com (FMIG).
FMIG – Good afternoon legend. We hope you are doing good.
OK – Good afternoon. Yes I’m doing fantastically well as always. I hope all is well with you too.
FMIG – Same here. Glory be to God.
FMIG – First of all Ghana beat Kenya by 13-2 some 53 years ago. You were on the Ghana team. What are your memories of that game?
OK – Thank you very much. I still remember that game like it was yesterday. It was such a great day of soccer for us but such an embarrassment to the Kenyans who had invited us to celebrate their independence day but we ended up beating them mercilessly.
FMIG – Just how good was this Black Stars team you played in?
OK – We were simply the best team in Africa at that time. The days we were known as the Brazil of Africa because of our beautiful football. We had just defended the “65 Africa Cup of Nations and so the Kenya president Jomo Kenyatta wrote an invitation letter to our then president Kwame Nkrumah for us to come and exhibit the Ghana version of Brazilian soccer. We had Frank Odoi. There was Kofi Pare a typical number 9. There was Attoquayefieyo. I was there. I mean we had won the 1963 AFCON and defended it in 65. We had drew 3-3 against the almighty Real Madrid years back in Accra and after this whenever we played any team we felt so confident. We had an unbelievable quality.
FMIG – To beat a team by 13-2 is quiet unbelievable. Could it also be that the Kenyans were just not good at football?
OK – You see, we had a good foundation here as Kwame Nkrumah teamed up with Ohene Gyan to build a solid football foundation for us . We were a project at its peak. The Kenya president Kenyatta was present at the game and their team was determined to win the game to mark the Independence celebration . I will say we were just too good for them. As I said earlier we were the best team on the continent at this time as defending African champions.
FMIG – You scored 4 goals in the game. Do you remember how you scored those goals?
OK – Many of my goals were solo goals. I was a player endowed with great technique and so most of my goals were brilliant. This was how I remember scoring those goals. Anyone that saw me play could testify this was how I played.
Ghana super stars of yesterday Kofi Pare (right) and Osei Kofi (left)
FMIG – Kofi Pare scored bunch of the 13 goals – 6 goals he had. Can you share with us what sort of striker was he?
OK – In fact I even laid on few assists for Kofi Pare to score. Lot of young Ghanaians didn’t see a player like Kofi Pare play. Very powerful and physically strong. He struck the ball with such great power to the extent that there were actually times that we jokingly questioned him if he was mentally normal because he could shoot the ball to injure the opponent goalkeeper if he tried catching it. He was a typical number 9 and very deadly in front of goal. He scored 6 goals and I scored 4 as Odoi had 3 goals.
FMIG – Could you have scored more goals?
OK – Absolutely yes. It could have been worse than 13-2 but we needed to show some pity. We scored all the 13 goals before the 70th minute mark I think and so we took our feet off the pedal for the last 15 minutes of the game juggling and jogging around. Imagine how embarrassing it was for the Kenyans to be losing by 13 goals in your own country. Whilst watching the president Kenyatta even took off his hat, looking confused, as we were ruthless.
FMIG – 13 goals to 2. Were some of the Ghana goals scored from penalties?
OK – None. No single penalty goal. We scored all the 13 goals from open play. Very good goals for that matter.
FMIG – CK Gyamfi was the Ghana coach winning the 63, 65 AFCONs and was in charge of this big win. What sort of coach was he?
OK – Greatest we’ve ever had from this country. CK coached us to do many big things . He created a great team.
FMIG – What system of football did Black Stars play under coach Gyamfi?
OK – During this time the 4-2-4 formation was the main formation many teams played. Brazil were using it and it was same style CK adopted and we won big things with it. Let me also add that it was due to the greatness and knowledge of CK Gyamfi that made the Kenya side AFC Leopards to hire him between 1988 and 1991 so that he bring his coaching expertise to the country and he really did a great job over there. Kenyans can never forget this and this is what the football history between Ghana and Kenya is about.
FMIG – What do you think of the current state of Ghana football?
OK – Hmmm (sighs). Ghana is a blessed football country. We have the talents here in abundance. Recently during the Asamoah Gyan U16 tournament a team from Bolga came all the way to Accra to finish 4th after playing some wonderful football. What does this mean? This means we have talents in all parts of the country. And I will propose for the next GFA leaders to conduct a thorough nationwide scouting and the nationwide colts football has to be revived. The days of bribery and corruption in our game should be over. We can always get things right despite what has happened.
FMIG – What do you say about Saturday’s game ?
OK – I think Kwesi Appiah is doing some good job with the team. You can see that we didn’t qualify for the World Cup but we were unbeaten in the games we played against two World Cup teams Japan and Iceland before the competition started in Russia. That is to say Kwesi is doing well but you know the game has evolved a lot. 53 years ago we beat Kenya 13-2 in a friendly. But can that happen today? I don’t think so. The smaller teams have closed the gap like never before and so we must be careful. But I hope Ghana will have a good result.
FMIG – Thank you very much for your time with us at FootballmadeinGhana.com. We are so grateful.
OK – You’re always welcome.
