Walter Zenga

What country is that? Hungary?

 

I'm assuming he's head coach there, I could be wrong.

 

.ro is for Romania or Romenia

Romenia

 

Miss him? No.

I would've rather had Lotti!

 

Specifically, it's FC National of Bucharest.

Is that him in the 2nd row between the 2 keepers?

I miss the spectacular keeper from 97 who would kiss his girl friend between saves. As a pure shot stopper, I would take Aidin Brown on a good day over Walter when he played for us, but for pure entertainment value and for his ability to influence an entire game, Spiderman in a Revs shirt was the best I've ever seen in person.

However, by his second go around here, I don't think he was Spiderman anymore. I don't miss that Walter Zenga.

 

Say what you want about Zenga, he is/was a "never a dull moment" kind of guy. I much preferred him to the Dutchman who preceded him.

Stevie Nicks is definitely the best I've seen on the Revs bench though.

 

He sure got us talking.

I remember screaming something at him as he was just coming out of a game and he shot me a look. It was all I could do to keep from wetting my pants.
...Scared the hell out of me.

And we all bought those hats too...didn't we!

 

The Legend of Zenga

Some Italian fans were yelling at him after a game (guess what the result was?), calling the Revs a "Serie C" team. Zenga jumped the barrier in one fell swoop and chased the guy down and started arguing loudly with him in Italian. Italians can get emotional when just chit-chatting about mundane things like the weather, so you can imagine the hand gestures flying here, before a rev staffer intervened and dragged him back to Autograph Alley.

Zenga was very good at organizing the defense. In 1997, we were acutally pretty good, other than the 10 games or so that he and Colo Farias missed. I remember one time when he was trying to get Lalas to do something, and Alexi ignored him, and an angry Zenga yelled at him "giocci a cane vecchio!" which means "you are playing like an old dog!"

Priceless!

Tom

 

No.

 

Re: Re: Walter Zenga

This line of internet humor is about as funny as "fixed your post".

 

I miss the quality of his play during his first stint with the Revs, and I miss the personality that he brought to the club. Things were never dull...

But how I miss his then girlfriend Hoara Borselli:



Good inspiration for "keeping a clean sheet" ;-)

The Magpie

 

Re: Re: Walter Zenga

As a player, I'll always think he was a gift from above for us (imagine what those teams would have been like w/o him?).

Coachingwise, I think having a former (or current) player in his first coaching job is like being the "rebound" for someone coming off a divorce. It ain't gonna be pretty!

 

You read my mind

 

I remember a big game in 1997 where, after the Revs having scored a big goal (might have been the game that clinched the playoffs), Zenga bolted over to the sidelines (always the showboat) to plant a big kiss on Hoara's cheering face,

She was close enough for me to see her clearly, and I remember just thinking..."Well, damn!". I almost didn't notice the silliness of the whole situation.

 

WSC Column On Zenga

Spiderman meets Dracula and loses.

It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.

FTR, I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated Zenga's abilities, passion, and yes, antics on the field. It's that coaching thingy....

From the February 03 edition of When Saturday Comes.


"Rum Times" by Ben Lyttleton

"When former Itally goalkeeper Walter Zenga was appointed coach of Romanian side FC National last summer, he explained that one attraction of making a fresh start was to help him get over a broken heart after his split with Italian actress Hoara Borselli. Four months later, Zenga, rumoured to have had a fling with Madonna after Italia 90, cannot wait to leave Bucharest and he looks set to do so at the end of the season. The reason? Another woman. A drug bust. And a potential smear campaign.

It may be a little unfair to blame Zenga's latest squeeze, professional tennis player Raluca Sandu. Raluca, daughter of Romanian FA president Mirceas Sandu (he disapproves, by the way), dumped Ion-Ion Tiriac, son of legendary tennis coach Ion, to snare Zenga. The pair soon became Bucharest's top celebrity couple, Posh and Becks with bats' wings.

Everything changed on the last Thursday in November. Zenga and Raluca went out for dinner with his assistant coach Alessandro Ciullini and two Italian TV journalists. They ate at Trattoria il Calcio, a restaurant owned by the club chairman Gino Iorgulescu. They then went to the members-only section of a trendy nightclub called Office, where another National coach, the former Chelsea midfielder Dan Petrescu, and his wife Dana joined them.

Around midnght, armed police burst in and headed straight for Zenga's table, finding a wrap of cocaine under the table and another behind hs chair. The Italian was searched before being taken to the police station.
....
Zenga and Raluca were released the following morning without charge. It then emerged that Ion-Ion Tiriac was also in Office that night with his new girlfirend, pop star and Playboy model Ileana Lazariuc. A Police spokesman confirmed that they had received a tip-off from someone inside the club, and the press had a field day. One newspaper alleged that Ion-Ion had called the police, another that he had personally planted the cocaine at Zenga's table.
....
Zenga was shaken by the sorry affair and was only talked into staying at the club after lengthy discussions. A few days later, he released a statement. 'In my whole playing career and throughout my life, I have never tried to take any drugs,' he said.

'This whole episode has destroyed me. It could ruin my image across the world and especially in Italy, where my children live. I'm afraid to think that they could even believe such horrible stories about me. My only worry is how to improve my work every day and get good results for the team. I am innocent.'

Zenga has been spotted walking around the club with tears in his eyes. One National player walked into the coach's office and found him 'crying like a desperate man'. Olaroiu has since revealed that Zenga has 'almost admitted' that he will leave at the end of the season. By then he will probably be happy to go back to Italy, broken heart and all."

 

Simply classic. You can't make this stuff up...

 

Re: Re: WSC Column On Zenga

Sorry. No link. I typed it in directly from the magazine.

The two ellipses in my post refer to three paragraphs that contained quotes from witnesses: assistant coach Ciullini (who didn't know if it was a setup, but was shocked the police found something), Petrescu (known to EPL fans and who stated he and his wife don't do drugs), and from his new girlfriend Raluca (who was befuddled, stating "Nobody in our party likes to take drugs.")

 

Re: Re: Re: Walter Zenga

Hey! Asked and answered! Sheeesh.

 

A momentary lapse of civility.

 

Hey--no matter. It's all for one, and one for all, when it comes to our boys anyway.

And I just hope Walter doesn't show up on COPS, Milan edition....

 

The "good" ol days -- where post shootout Hoara hugging was the highlight of the season.

Alan

 

She should replace Veronica Paysee...

 

I'm all for that.

Viva Italia.