Gor Mahia youngster stunned after landing maiden Harambee Stars call-up

So much was the excitement Bryton Onyona had on Friday, 7 November, that he ended up missing his pre-planned afternoon nap.

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Onyona, 20, was still in a moment of surprise, trying to process the news that he had landed a maiden call-up to the national football team - Harambee Stars.

The Gor Mahia left-back was among three new names added to Benni McCarthy's squad for November's pair of international friendlies against Equatorial Guinea and Senegal, all scheduled for Turkey.

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"I did not expect it to happen this soon," Onyona, who partially learnt of his call-up through club teammate Alpha Onyango on Friday, told Mozzart Sport.

"I had just wrapped up team training, and was on my way to buy new trainers in town when Alpha called. He told me he was forwarding my number to someone at Harambee Stars, and that it was urgent.

A few minutes later, the Team Manager phoned me up, congratulating me for making the team."

For a self-proclaimed realist, the news took him aback, so much so, that his afternoon schedule changed.

"I still went on with my errand, but the excitement was so much that I did not take the nap I had intended to have when I went back home," Onyona said, laughing.

Why not, for a man who up to early this year, had not even had a taste of top-flight football?

Onyona, who picked up the sport actively at Oriwo High School in 2020, was only promoted from Gor Mahia youth to the senior team in February, when he embarked on a serious tilt at making a career out of football.

His full league debut for K'Ogalo came in April, a month after making a brief cameo against Githurai All Stars in the Mozzart Bet Cup.

The third-year Actuarial Science student at JKUAT made his breakout impression when he won the Mozzart Bet Cup man-of-the-match award against Kariobangi Sharks in May, a performance that lifted the youngster to virtually being a starter at his club, extending that form to the new 2025-2026 season.

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"It is fair to say it has been a whirlwind of a year," Onyona, who credits Gor Mahia coach Charles Akonnor and seasoned veterans Ernest Wendo and Philemon Otieno for his progress, said. "Gor Mahia is obviously a big club, and it is the reason I am here.

I view myself as a hard-worker, and that is all I did since getting the opportunity. Pretty sure many at the club felt this call-up was coming."

Being on McCarthy's radar is a thought Onyona calls humbling, and he cannot wait to impress the South African when he finally links with the team next week.

"Him calling me up means the world to me because it shows he has been watching. I just want him to see the effort," Onyona said of his plans to "plant an image" on the Harambee Stars head coach.

"Just being that name he thinks about every time when calling up defenders."

A long-term view is what McCarthy looks to be focused on in the moment, and Onyona says he fits right in that timeline.

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"We saw how well the team played in CHAN with several young players, and I hope to add to that quality," he said. "I am not the kind of person who has stage-fright, I have been in big games for my club, and I feel ready."

A potential prospect of coming up against Everton forward Iliman Ndiaye is one too far down Onyona’s road, and though he admits that could be a "baptism of fire", is only focused on ticking another box in his career.

"Representing the nation is a big dream come true, but I got to shift my focus on getting in there first, and staking my claim."