Okwi, Bocco interested in team, not personal awar

SIMBA’S twin strikers, John Bocco and Emmanuel Okwi are not interested in personal accolades, insisting they are only focused on achieving success for the team.

The deadly duo once again combined well to help Simba cruise to a 2-0 over Tanzania Prisons in a tough Mainland Premier League match at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Monday.

Parading 58 points now, Simba have intensified their lead to 11-point superiority over their closest pursuers, Young Africans who have remained a distance behind with 47 points. Bocco opened the goal account in the 36th minute and Okwi sealed the account with the second goal in the 81st minute.

They are enjoying a productive season and have scored 34 league goals between them so far, with Okwi leading the golden race after scoring 19 times, followed by Bocco with 14 goals.

With six matches to go, Okwi is likely to break 26 league goals record, set by former Young Africans and Simba striker, Mohammed Hussein ‘Mmachinga’ 19 years ago. Okwi has already reached 19 goals, a mark set by Burundian striker, Amissi Tambwe, while featuring for Simba to win the golden boot in a 2013/14 season.

The same mark was also set by Bocco to win the golden boot, while featuring for Azam in 2011/12 season. Tambwe later crossed to Simba’s archrivals Yanga and won the golden boot after scoring 21 goals in 2015/16 season.

Ugandan striker Hamisi Kiiza, who crossed from Yanga to Simba in the same season, was second with 19 goals. In a post-match interview, Okwi who appears on course to win top scorer award insisted the success of Simba far outweighs any personal achievements that might come his way. “Winning the top scorer accolades will only be an additional achievement, but my main focus is to keep helping the team win matches as they come,” he insisted.

Skipper Bocco also said winning the league title was their primary goal and that things were going all right for them at the moment. “My focus is not to overtake Okwi in the race for the Golden Boot award … I want to keep scoring to help the team win the league title,” said Bocco.

Speaking about the match, Bocco said Tanzania Prisons defence was tough. “It was a tough game … very tough. Prison is a good team they came with a defensive tactics. I’m proud of our supporters, they are very important to us, they kept motivating us to win and this is very important for the team,” he said.