Azkals’ Nordic Wall: Cagara, Lucena and Jonnson
The fans have probably noted the formidable back four that the
Azkals fielded at home in the friendly
against Nepal last October 11 !
Right ! That strong back wall was composed of longtime skipper
Aly Borromeo, Fil-Danish Jerry Lucena & Dennis Cagara , and Icelandic-Fil Ray Jonnson ! The new back four
certainly proved impenetrable against the Nepalese Tigers’ desperate
attacks from all angles through the full ninety minutes of football !
You will probably agree with me , therefore, that our solid defense played a crucial part in that
4-0 route of Nepal!
In case, you don’t know it yet , three of that back four are
from the very cold Nordic countries!
Jerry Lucena and Dennis Cagara are from Denmark while Ray Jonnson
is a Cebu-born Icelandic! Now let’s get
to know them better…
Jerry Lucena
| Aarhus GF, Superligaen (Denmark) | |
| Current national player: Philippines |
| Profile for Jerry Lucena | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Transfer history
| Season | Month/Year | by | to | on loan | Transfer fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/08 | 07.2007 |  Esbjerg fB |
Aarhus GF |
free transfer | |
| 99/00 | 07.1999 | Esbjerg fB U19 |
Esbjerg fB |
- | |
Jerry Lucena plays fullback and , on some occasions , as a
mid-fielder for AGF Aarhus FC from the Esbjerg fB in the Danish Superliga ! His father is a
Filipino married to a Danish native and even before capping for the Philippines
, he played for the Danish under-21 and the Denmark League XI teams.Lucena could have joined the Azkals much earlier but his Achilles tendon injury hampered him!
Dennis Cagara
| Lyngby BK, Superligaen (Denmark) | |
| Current national player: Philippines |
| Profile for Dennis Cagara | |||||||||||||||||||||
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 © unbekannt |
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Similarly, Dennis Cagara , whose dad is Filipino married to
a Danish lady , is another Danish pro football player playing for Lyngby Boldklub and has played for various
Danish national youth teams since age15!
Note that Cagara made his senior debut
for Brøndby at age 17 years and 220 days on 10 October 2002 ; thus, making him the youngest debutant of the Danish
Superliga championship ( fourth youngest debutant in Brøndby club
history). Cagara played seven league
games for the club in the 2002–03 Superliga season, and was a part
of the Brøndby team which won the 2003 Danish Cup
trophy. At the age of 18, Cagara made his debut for the Denmark national under-21
football team on 6 June 2003.
Ray Jonnson
| Profile for Ray Jonnson | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ray Anthony Pepito Jónsson | ||
| Date of birth | 3 February 1979 | ||
| Place of birth | Cebu, Philippines | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Full back, wide midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Grindavik | ||
| Number | 3 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1997 | Grindavik | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1997– | Grindavik | 188 | (5) |
| 1997–1998 | → GG (loan) | ? | (?) |
| 1999 | → Völsungur (loan) | ? | (?) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2001 | Iceland U-21 | 2 | (0) |
| 2010– | Philippines | 18 | (0 |
The third of that Nordic wall , perhaps the most known , is Ray Anthony Jonnson , a defender and midfielder, whose
mother hails from Cebu and whose dad is
from Iceland! Jonnson now plays professionally for the Icelandic
Premier League club Grindavik ! Just like Lucena and Cagara ,
Jonnson played for the Under 21 team of his country before suiting up for the
Azkals starting in 2010! It is a common knowledge in the Philippine football
community that Jonnson is a Cebuano-speaking Icelandic.
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