Walter Zenga

Walter Zenga

Personal information
Full name	Walter Zenga
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Retired

Walter Zenga (born April 28, 1960 in Milan) is an Italian football (soccer) manager and former player, a long-time goalkeeper for the Italian national team and Inter Milan. He was also a member of the Italian squad that finished fourth at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California and the World Cup squad that finished third in the 1990 FIFA World Cup tournament held in Italy, in which Zenga started every game for the Azzurri.

Zenga came back to Inter Milan in 1982, after starting his professional career in 1978 in the lower divisions of Italian soccer (his first team was Salernitana in Serie C1, and he also played for Savona and Sambenedettese). Zenga became Inter's starter in his second year with the team, and continued in that position for 11 seasons, until 1994, winning the UEFA Cup in his last season with the club. After being the backup keeper at the 1986 World Cup, Zenga became the starter when Italy hosted the tournament in 1990, and led the team to a third-place finish. He ended up with 58 caps for his country. During the 1990 World Cup, Zenga established a record for the most minutes without conceding a goal in the FIFA World Cup, not being beaten for 518 minutes in total. [1] This record would hold for over 17 years and was only broken by German female keeper Nadine Angerer with 540 unbeaten minutes when the German women's national football team won the title in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup without conceding a single goal throughout their six matches.

In 1994, Zenga transferred to Sampdoria, and then to Padova two years later. He then moved on to New England Revolution and Major League Soccer. Zenga played in goal for them in the league's second season in 1997, then left to pursue an acting career (he and his girlfriend starred in an Italian soap opera). During a game versus the Tampa Bay Mutiny in 1997, he celebrated a goal by running to the sidelines and making out with his girlfriend, as the Mutiny barely missed the open net straight from the kickoff. Zenga came back to the Revs in 1999, as a player-coach, but only lasted a year in both those positions.

Zenga then went to Romania, first managing Naţional Bucharest and then Steaua Bucharest. In the summer of 2005, after being fired from Steaua before the end of the season, Zenga joined Red Star Belgrade, leading the Serbian team to a double (national league and national cup in Serbia & Montenegro). In the 2006 summer, Zenga was called to coach Turkish side Gaziantepspor; however, after a poor beginning (5 wins in 17 league matches), he resigned in January 2007 in order to accept an offer from United Arab Emirates club Al-Ain FC. After just 5 months in charge Al-Ain sacked Zenga, who was announced in September 2007 as new Dinamo Bucharest boss, replacing Mircea Rednic.

External links

• www.walterzenga.it

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