John Bocco shrugs off injury, set for Azam tie

Dar es Salaam. Simba have welcomed two injured stars back to training ahead of their Mainland Premier League match against Azam FC at the Chamazi Complex on Saturday.

The players include striker John Bocco, who completed a light training session yesterday in the city, according to the Msimbazi Street team’s assistant coach, Jackson Mayanja.

The former Azam FC forward worked out in the gym along with the other players who featured for the Msimbazi Reds in Sunday’s friendly match against Zanzibar’s Hard Rock at the Uhuru Stadium.

Joseph Omog’s men had little mercy on Hard Rock in Saturday’s match, thrashing the Isles team 5-0.

In an interview with The Citizen yesterday, Mayanja said Bocco was in great shape and that he would play for the Mainland giants against the ice-cream makers.

The match was to take place today at the Uhuru Stadium, but Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) rescheduled it to Saturday due to what it termed as technical reasons.

Bocco sustained a knee injury a few days before the Community Shield clash between Simba and their arch-rivals Young Africans last month.

The gifted striker did not feature for Simba in their first Premier League match against Ruvu Shooting at the Uhuru Stadium.

His absence, however, was not highly felt as the Msimbazi giants hammered their army side 7-0 to sound a warning note to their next opponents in the top flight.

“We are happy that Bocco is now fit enough to play for our team in the league,” said Mayanja.

“He is in great shape as those who saw him during our training session can attest. We’ll have him on board in Saturday’s match against Azam,” he said.

But Simba, who have vowed to wrestle back the league title from Yanga this season, will miss the services of defender Shomari Kapombe and goalkeeper Said Mohamed, who have been ruled out of the game due injuries.

Bocco, goalkeeper Aishi Manula and defender Erasto Nyoni, who joined Simba a few weeks ago, will be playing against their former team in Saturday’s game.

This will be the first time for Simba and Azam to face off at the Chamazi Complex in a league match. On Monday, TFF announced that Azam will now be playing all their home matches in the league at the 20,000-seater venue.

In the past four or so years, Azam have been playing their home matches against Simba and Yanga at the Uhuru or National Stadium because the two clubs (Yanga and Simba) command huge following.

Elsewhere, Tanzania Prisons will face Majimaji of Ruvuma at the Sokoine Memorial Stadium in Mbeya.