I would be dead if I was still living in Ghana - Former Black Stars goalkeeper

Ghana Black Stars last won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1982 in Libya, and the man who proved to be the hero of the night was goalkeeper Michael Owusu Mensah.

Owusu Mensah who is now based in the United States, has said the country has failed to win the African Cup title again because authorities in charge of the game are dishonest.

According to him, he would have been dead if he chosen in Ghana but now lives comfortably in the United States.

In 1982, Ghana won the championship by beating the hosts, Libya in the first ever final decided on penalty shootout.

In the lottery of penalties, Ghana goalie Michael Owusu Mensah grabbed headlines with a swift transformation from villain to hero, missing his kick only to make amends with two saves that won Ghana the Cup.

Joseph Carr, then the team’s first choice goalkeeper, dubiously claimed to be unwell to avoid playing in the team’s opening game against hosts Libya.

Carr’s teammates speculated that it might have been because he wasn’t in form and so wanted to avoid featuring to swerve possible humiliation.

Carr’s bizarre behaviour turned out to be a blessing-in-disguise for third choice goalie Michael Owusu Mensah, who would go on to emerge as an unlikely hero.

Chosen ahead of second choice goalie John Baker, who was understood to be struggling with fitness, Mensah, according to Bediako, went on to make at “least six point blank saves” to save Ghana.

Mensah turned out to be “the man who stood between Libya and victory”, according to the Ghanaian Times’ Oheneba Charles, who also travelled with the team.

The hero goalkeeper has been missing from the media and public landscape after the tournament, 35 years ago but has now resurfaced.

Mensah is now living “comfortably” in the United States, and says he would have been dead if he had stayed in Ghana.

VIDEO: This is the goalkeeper who won Ghana's 4th and last Afcon title. Owusu Mensah was hero in the 1982 Afcon final. Now based in USA pic.twitter.com/0KzS1VUEXs

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