Author: BENJAMIN BEN
AfricaPress-Tanzania: SIMBA striker Meddie Kagere is one goal shy of hitting half a century in the Mainland Premier League matches since joining the club three seasons ago.
The Rwandese hit man, who is now in his third season trading in the league has so far scored 49 goals from 2018 and he still look sharp to score more this season.
In two seasons alone, Kagere has banged 45 goals and he has already scored four in five rounds this season, meaning has so far found the back of the net 49 times in the league since he joined Simba from Kenya giants Gor Mahia.
He managed to win the golden boot accolade in his first season of playing in the country (2018/19) after netting 23 goals before retaining his top scorer gong in 2019/20, when he pumped 22 goals and this season, the nicknamed ‘Bull Striker’ has already scored 4 goals.
If he maintains his goal scoring form, Kagere is definitely on the good path to challenge John Bocco’s professional record of 128 goals since he began his Premier League career with Azam FC in 2008.
For Bocco, who spent nine seasons at Azam before crossing the boundaries to join champions Simba in 2017/18 season, managed to put the ball behind the net 88 times at Azam and 40 for Simba so far.
He had a successful 2011/12 season at Azam after scoring19 goals in 26 matches and he is yet to beat his own record. In 2010/11 Bocco scored 15 goals for Azam.
In his first season at Azam (2008/9), Bocco scored only one goal but he managed to sharpen his scoring boots in the next season (2009/10), hitting 14 goals to his name and that was when his name began to be famous in the country’s Premier League.
Apart from his debut season, another worst season while trading for the Chamazi side was in 2014/15, when he scored three goals only and it was the chapter he succumbed to frequent injuries which kept him off the pitch in many games.
Moreover, while enjoying his career with Azam, Bocco excelled to score seven goals in two consecutive seasons 2012/13 and 2013/14 respectively to complete a set of 88 goals in nine seasons for former champions Azam. Bocco lifted the league silverware with Azam in 2014.
After joining Simba in 2017, until now, Bocco maintained his prolific scoring form. During the 2018/19 season, he scored 15 goals, one more goal from 14 goals he fired in the previous season.
The going was tough for him last season as he pumped in ten goals only, which was partly contributed due to the long term injury he picked and made him to miss a lot of games.
This season, Bocco has already scored one goal but is currently nursing injury no wonder he was released from the recent national team squad which regrouped for the international friendly match against Burundi.
Currently, Azam striker Prince Dube is leading the scoring chart with five goals followed by Kagere, who eyes to defend his golden boot award for the third time in a row.
