Merel van Dongen on Decision to Join Rayadas, Beating Tigres

CF Monterrey went to Europe to land a quality center-back for the Rayadas squad. The team will lean on Merel van Dongen, who brings European and national team experience.

In a recent interview with Telediario, the Dutch player expressed what went into her decision to join Rayadas and leave Atlético de Madrid this winter transfer window.

“Well, in the end, as I always say, the career of a footballer is not so long,” van Dongen said. “In the end, you don’t have many opportunities to live and play in Mexico, which is an incredible country where people live for football, almost like it’s a religion. And when this opportunity came, I knew I could play here. So, I studied it, and I really like adventure and big cities.”

Merel van Dongen: The most important thing is for Rayadas to beat Tigres

Furthermore, van Dongen has been part of a Madrid Derby, so she understands how vital these contests are for clubs. As a result, her mindset is that whenever Rayadas plays Tigres UANL, the club needs to win these contests.

“Well, the most important thing is to beat Tigres,” van Dongen added. “It’s a rivalry in this city, and it’s something that needs to be understood from the beginning. Then, Club América is an excellent team. Some time ago, many players from Spain came here, so I know more or less which are the good teams and where they stand on this list. 

“I like it. What I mentioned before is that it’s very professional, and you can see a lot of the Mexican league in Spain, for example, in videos and highlights, so it measures up.”