Rinomhota key in solidifying Warriors midfield

When news of Marshall Munetsi’s absence in back to back Afcon qualifying encounters against Algeria filtered through, you could almost sense an element of worry as Zimbabwe geared up for important battles against Africa’s champions.

Munetsi was indeed severely missed especially in the Warriors 3-1 defeat to the Desert Foxes away from home, but a key lesson was the need to provide quality cover in the eventuality of an injury. While Marshall Munetsi and Marvelous Nakamba are key players in central midfield, Reading player Andy Rinhomota could be viewed as a perfect addition to a squad which still requires more depth.

Boasting of being a regular in the Reading starting line-up, Rinomhota would add grit to a midfield which already has the likes of Marshall Munetsi and Marvelous Nakamba. Rinomhota is a good reader of the game and can produce occassional moments of brilliance in the attacking third. His main strengths though are his defensive abilities, having become renowned for winning the majority of duels he is often involved in.

Born in Leeds, United Kingdom, to a Zimbabwean father and British mother, Rinhomota is one of several England-based players who Zimbabwe have been pursuing as part of their initiative to tap into the abundant football talent emerging from among the diaspora community.

In the build up to the Algeria back to back encounters it was reported that Rinomhota had snubbed the opportunity of turning out for the warriors but with greater depth required the Zimbabwe Football Association should surely find a way of convincing the championship player to turn out for Zimbabwe.

At the weekend Rinomhota started in Reading’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth. In 6 ground duels, Rinomhota won 5 of them while also coming out tops in the two aerial duels he was involved in. Boasting of a 74 percent passing accuracy Rinhomota played the entire 90 minutes.