Catch me if you can, Sundowns’ Onyango tells foreigners
“When I retire, it will remain that Denis is one of the most decorated foreigners with eight league titles," said the Sundowns goalkeeper.
Denis Onyango of Mamelodi Sundowns prides himself on being one of the most decorated imports in South Africa, having lifted eight league. Picture: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images.
Denis Onyango prides himself on being one of the most decorated imports in South Africa, having lifted eight league titles since arriving in the country 15 years ago. Onyango was spotted by Pitso Mosimane when the former was still in the books of Ethiopian side Saint George. Mosimane brought him to SuperSport United where he then left the club to join Bafana Bafana, only to reunite at Sundowns in 2012.
When Mosimane joined Sundowns, Onyango was nowhere close to being Downs’ number one goalkeeper, and fast forward to today, he and Sundowns captain – who is a close friend – share 16 league gold medals among themselves.
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“It is amazing to win my eighth league title and share that record with Kekana. I saw him coming from Limpopo where he played for Black Leopards and I saw the way he was, he was an aspiring youngster and he became one of the biggest captains in Sundowns. These are the things that drive us because we are here to win. Daine Klate was the one with the most titles and we managed to beat that, we got to seven, now to eight and we want to make it 10 with Kekana,” said Onyango.
“We are privileged that we are playing at Sundowns and the target is to always win the league. It is not going to be easy to find a youngster who wins nine or 10 league titles because sometimes youngsters get to two or three league titles and they stop,” he added.
Together with Chippa United attacker Anthony Laffor, they are second to none when it comes to achievements as foreign players and Onyango has challenged anyone to match or surpass his achievements.
“When I retire, it will remain that Denis is one of the most decorated foreigners with eight league titles. No one is going to come from outside and win eight league titles because sometimes they play for two or three seasons then they go. But it is up to them, whoever comes must take me on because I want to reach 10 titles I need to keep going, I have never heard anyone saying my medals are enough and that’s what drives me,” said the Downs goalie.
