Accra, June 19, GNA - Former Black Stars striker, Dan Owusu has rued the absence of a "world class" striker in the current national teams.

Owusu, thrice top scorer on the local scene in the late 70's said the menace has become the supreme factor in the Black Stars under-performance in recent times.

The former Bofoakwa Tano striker who exemplified "world class strikers" as France's Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba of Cote d'Ivoire and Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon told GNA Sports there is no "striker" in the current Black Stars team.

He explained that most of the players lack the basic qualities of a striker; the physique, fitness and skills, hence the inability to convert begging chances during matches. Owusu who scored 75 goals in three seasons, reiterated that the absence of a potent striker was a contributory factor in the Stars inability to win the Ghana 2008 Africa Cup of Nations that ended in Accra last February. "A striker can use four parts of the foot to score; the sole, inside left, outside right and instep, but strikers of today lacked those ideas with most of the current crop of players lacking football intelligence."

Owusu bemoaned the rate at which top scorers from the Premier League have in recent times been decided with less than 20 goals. "I scored 22 goals in 1974, 24 in 1975 and 1976 but nowadays you see a goal king with only 13 goals," he laughed it off. He advised young players to build upon their composure upfront and urged coaches to concentrate on the art of goal scoring. Owusu was a former assistant trainer of the Black Queens.